New Mexico has a stormy gaming history. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico Native bands. When the working group arrived at an agreement with two prominent local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the compact with the Amerindian bands, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. Ten years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game providers acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting over gaming as an important factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.
This entry was posted on July 28, 2025, 3:25 pm and is filed under Casino. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.