New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a rocky gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate an accord with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with two important local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has increased since 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicos are through batting around gaming as a key factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.
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