New Mexico Bingo
Friday, 15. September 2023
New Mexico has a stormy gambling background. 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 cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force came to an accord with 2 important local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Native betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the compact with the Indian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, therefore denying the state 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 process moving on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting over gambling as an important issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.
Posted in Casino by Gwendolyn