New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Native bands. When the working group came to an agreement with 2 prominent local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the American Indian bands, anti-wagering forces were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full contract between the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. Ten years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All types of providers look for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting around gambling as a hot button issue like they did back in the 90’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.
This entry was posted on March 7, 2016, 10:21 am and is filed under Bingo. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.