Bingo in New Mexico

New Mexico has a bitter gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an agreement with 2 big local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Amerindian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the American Indian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the State of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo industry has grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.

Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gambling as a hot button factor like they did in the 90’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.


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