08.16
New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a stormy gambling history. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the panel came to an accord with two prominent local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gambling as an important factor like they did back in the 90’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.
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