Bingo in New Mexico
Sunday, 24. January 2016
New Mexico has a complex gaming past. When the IGRA was signed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a compact with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the task force came to an agreement with two prominent local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the Native tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus 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 legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a hot button factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.
Posted in Casino by Ricky