Bingo in New Mexico

[ English ]

New Mexico has a stormy gaming history. When the IGRA was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the working group came to an agreement with 2 big local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Indian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the compact with the American Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. Ten years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All types of owners look for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a hot button factor like they did back in the 90’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.


Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Search on this site:


Categories: