New Mexico has a bitter gaming background. When the IGRA was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in 1990 to discuss a contract with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with two prominent local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Indian bands, anti-wagering forces were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All types of owners try for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting around gambling as a key issue like they did in the 90’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.
This entry was posted on February 11, 2022, 4:25 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.