Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a stormy gambling background. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to draft a contract with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the working group arrived at an agreement with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Amerindian bands, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues 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 contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. Ten years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of providers look for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicians are through batting over gambling as an important factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.