21 Jan 16

[ English ]

New Mexico has a complex gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to draft an accord with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the panel came to an agreement with 2 big local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game owners acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.

Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting around gaming as an important issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.


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