Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a complex gaming background. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Native casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to discuss an accord with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the task force came to an accord with two important local bands a year later, the Governor 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 Amerindian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. Ten years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has grown since 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting around gambling as a hot button factor like they did in the 1990’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.
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