New Mexico Bingo
Friday, 28. June 2019
New Mexico has a complex gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico Indian bands. When the panel came to an accord with 2 important local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that American Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. Ten years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since that time. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicians are done batting around gambling as a key factor like they did back in the 90’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.
Posted in Bingo by Taryn