Bingo in New Mexico
Posted in Casino on 02/09/2016 02:21 pm by Marc
New Mexico has a complex gaming past. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico Native tribes. When the task force came to an agreement with 2 big local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Indian tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus 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 government, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has grown from 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All kinds of providers look for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting over gaming as a hot button matter like they did in the 90’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.