Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a complex gaming background. When the IGRA was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an agreement with two prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Native betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took 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 Native tribes. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All types of operators try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gambling as an important factor like they did in the 90’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.
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