Bingo in New Mexico
Posted in Bingo on 08/17/2007 02:27 pm by Eileen
New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to draft a compact with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force came to an accord with two important local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Native bands, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has grown since 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All types of providers look for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gambling as a hot button matter like they did in the 90’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.