Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a bitter gaming history. When the IGRA was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to draft a compact with New Mexico Indian bands. When the working group came to an agreement with 2 important local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the Native tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gaming as a key factor like they did in the 1990’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.
No comments yet.