2016
04.19

New Mexico Bingo

[ English ]

New Mexico has a bitter gaming history. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in Nineteen Ninety to create a compact with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the panel came to an accord with 2 important local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. 10 years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo business has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners acquired just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.

Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gambling as a key issue like they did in the 90’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.

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