24
November
Written by Lucian.
Posted in: Casino
[
English ]
New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a compact with New Mexico Native tribes. When the working group came to an agreement with 2 big local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the American Indian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gambling as a key factor like they did back in the 90’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.
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