New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a complex gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to discuss an accord with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the panel came to an agreement with two important local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the compact with the Native tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gambling as an important matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.
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