Bingo in New Mexico
Posted in Casino on 12/16/2018 04:25 pm by Jude
New Mexico has a rocky gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the working group arrived at an agreement with 2 important local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. Ten years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a hot button issue like they did in the 90’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.