New Mexico Bingo
Posted in Bingo on 02/21/2016 03:21 am by Eileen
New Mexico has a bitter gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to discuss an accord with New Mexico Indian bands. When the panel arrived at an agreement with two big local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that American Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Amerindian bands, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. Ten years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers brought in only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of providers look for a slice of the action. With hope, the politicos are through batting over gambling as a key factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.