Bingo in New Mexico
Wednesday, 12. December 2018
New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Native tribes. When the panel arrived at an agreement with two big local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Native bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has increased from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners acquired just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gambling as a hot button factor like they did back in the 90’s. That is probably wishful thinking.
Posted in Casino by Hudson