Bingo in New Mexico
by Stanley on Tuesday, August 22nd, 2023
New Mexico has a rocky gambling history. When the IGRA was signed 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 guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in 1990 to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the panel arrived at an accord with two big local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Native gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Native tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting around gambling as an important factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.
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