Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a rocky gaming background. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the panel arrived at an accord with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that American Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Native bands, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of owners try for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a key factor like they did in the 90’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.