New Mexico has a bitter gaming background. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to draft a contract with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the panel came to an agreement with two prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Amerindian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since that time. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a hot button factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
