New Mexico Bingo
Thursday, 26. November 2020
New Mexico has a bitter gaming background. When the IGRA was signed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the task force came to an accord with two important local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Indian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the American Indian tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. 10 years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has grown since 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All sorts of operators look for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gaming as an important factor like they did in the 90’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.
Posted in Bingo by Taryn