Bingo in New Mexico
Posted in Bingo on 04/05/2021 09:25 pm by Eileen
New Mexico has a rocky gaming past. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create a compact with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the task force arrived at an accord with two prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Native tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the Government 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 grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All kinds of providers look for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicians are through batting around gaming as a key factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.