New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico Indian bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with 2 important local tribes 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 1995, it appeared that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the American Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicos are done batting over gaming as an important issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.
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