Bingo in New Mexico
Tuesday, 7. March 2017
New Mexico has a rocky gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to create an accord with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the working group came to an accord with two prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Native gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the compact with the Native tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus costing the government 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 government, to get the process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. 10 years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has grown from 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a hot button matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.
Posted in Bingo by Taryn