Bingo in New Mexico
Posted in Bingo on 07/26/2020 05:25 am by Eileen
New Mexico has a bitter gaming past. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to discuss an accord with New Mexico Native tribes. When the task force arrived at an accord with two important local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Indian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, therefore costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game owners acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All types of owners look for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicos are through batting over gambling as a key matter like they did in the 90’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.