New Mexico Bingo
Sunday, 20. March 2022
New Mexico has a stormy gaming history. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to create an accord with New Mexico Native bands. When the panel arrived at an accord with 2 important local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Amerindian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. 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 one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of operators look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gaming as an important factor like they did back in the 90’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.
Posted in Bingo by Taryn