Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a bitter gambling history. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a contract with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an agreement with two important local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Amerindian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. Ten years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has gotten bigger from 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gaming as an important issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
