Bingo in New Mexico
Thursday, 30. May 2019
New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the working group arrived at an accord with 2 prominent local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Native tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees 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. Ten years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All types of owners try for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gaming as a hot button matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.
Posted in Bingo by Taryn