[
English ]
New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico Native 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 would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the Native tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has increased since 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a key matter like they did back in the 90’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.
October 17th, 2021
Meadow
Leave a reply