Bingo in New Mexico
by Maximilian on Monday, November 25th, 2019
New Mexico has a rocky gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a contract with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the working group came to an accord with two prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Indian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Native bands, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, therefore denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. 10 years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed 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 operators.
Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gaming as an important factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.
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