New Mexico has a stormy gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in Nineteen Ninety to draft an accord with New Mexico Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an agreement with two important local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game owners acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All types of owners look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gambling as an important matter like they did in the 90’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.
October 8th, 2024
Marques
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