Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a stormy gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a contract with New Mexico Native bands. When the panel arrived at an accord with 2 prominent local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the American Indian bands, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. 10 years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a key issue like they did in the 90’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.