Bingo in New Mexico
Monday, 7. November 2022
New Mexico has a bitter gaming background. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to draft a compact with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with two important local bands a year later, Governor King refused 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 Native gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Indian tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a key factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.
Posted in Casino by Jett