11.04
Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a complex gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to discuss a contract with New Mexico Native tribes. When the panel arrived at an agreement with two important local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, 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 government, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. 10 years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has grown from 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gambling as a key issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.
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