New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the task force came to an agreement with 2 big local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that American Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Native tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game owners acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All types of owners try for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a key issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.
No comments yet.