New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a rocky gambling past. 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 American Indian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an agreement with 2 big local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Indian tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore 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, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting over gambling as a hot button factor like they did in the 90’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.
No comments yet.