Bingo in New Mexico

[ English ]

New Mexico has a bitter gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to create a contract with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the task force came to an agreement with two prominent local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Native tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, 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 legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting around gaming as an important matter like they did in the 90’s. That is probably wishful thinking.


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