Casino Secrets

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New Mexico has a rocky gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Native tribes. When the working group came to an accord with 2 big local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Indian bands, anti-gambling 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 compact, therefore denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo business has grown from 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting over gaming as a key issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.