New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico Native tribes. When the task force came to an agreement with 2 big local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Native bands, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby costing the state 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 ball rolling on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. 10 years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since that time. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting over gambling as an important matter like they did back in the 90’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.
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