Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to discuss an accord with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the working group arrived at an accord with 2 prominent local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Amerindian bands, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the accord up in 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 revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. 10 years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gaming as a key matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.