Bingo in New Mexico
Saturday, 9. May 2009
New Mexico has a stormy gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Native bands. When the panel arrived at an agreement with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Native gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Native bands, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had outstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has increased from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gaming as a key issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.
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