Bingo in New Mexico
Monday, 22. April 2019
New Mexico has a complex gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Native tribes. When the working group came to an accord with two important local bands 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 Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that American Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the American Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a piece of the action. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gambling as a key issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.
Posted in Casino by Lance