New Mexico Bingo
Posted in Casino on 02/13/2021 04:25 am by Esperanza
New Mexico has a rocky gambling background. 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 assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to discuss an accord with New Mexico Indian bands. When the panel came to an agreement with two prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Amerindian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the compact with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, therefore denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has increased from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico non-profit game owners acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All sorts of operators look for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a hot button issue like they did in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.