New Mexico has a bitter gambling past. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a compact with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the task force came to an agreement with 2 big local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Indian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Amerindian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the 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 house, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. Ten years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown from 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All sorts of operators look for a slice of the action. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gaming as an important factor like they did in the 90’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.
Comments