Bingo in New Mexico
Posted in Casino on 11/02/2019 09:25 am by Esperanza
New Mexico has a rocky gambling history. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to create a compact with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the working group arrived at an accord with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the American Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus costing the state of New Mexico many 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 ball rolling on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gambling as a key factor like they did in the 90’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.