New Mexico has a bitter gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a compact with New Mexico Indian bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with 2 big local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Amerindian bands, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby denying the state of New Mexico many 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 accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. 10 years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gambling as an important matter like they did in the 90’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.
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