Casino

Read more about the
Las Vegas 2024 Super
Bowl Streaker!

New Mexico has a bitter gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to create a contract with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the working group arrived at an accord with 2 important 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 over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, therefore denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game owners acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.

Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting over gambling as a key issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.