Bingo in New Mexico
Posted in Bingo on 02/07/2016 11:21 pm by Eileen
New Mexico has a rocky gambling history. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the panel arrived at an accord with two big local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Native tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gambling as a key matter like they did in the 90’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.