New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a rocky gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Indian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Indian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game providers acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All types of owners try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gambling as a hot button matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.
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