Bingo in New Mexico
Posted in Casino on 04/16/2020 03:25 pm by Anthony
New Mexico has a complex gaming history. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico Native tribes. When the working group arrived at an accord with two important local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore costing 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 house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the State of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. 10 years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All types of owners try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gaming as an important matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.