New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Native casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in 1990 to draft a contract with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the working group came to an agreement with two big local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Indian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. 10 years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gambling as a key factor like they did in the 90’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.
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