New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a stormy gambling background. When the IGRA 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 assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico Native tribes. When the panel arrived at an agreement with two big local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Amerindian 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 the compact, thus denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. Ten years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has grown since 1999. 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 revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gaming as an important issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.
No comments yet.