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New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with two important local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Native wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Native bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped 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 required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Native tribes. Ten years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game providers acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting over gambling as a hot button factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.
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