New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a rocky gaming background. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to discuss a compact with New Mexico Native tribes. When the task force came to an agreement with two big local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the American Indian bands, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All types of providers look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gaming as a key factor like they did in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.
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