Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a bitter gaming past. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to draft an accord with New Mexico Native tribes. When the panel arrived at an accord with two big local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. 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 Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues 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 between the State of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. Ten years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicians are through batting over gambling as an important factor like they did in the 90’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.