New Mexico Bingo
Posted in Casino on 12/08/2021 04:25 pm by Ashly
New Mexico has a stormy gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to draft a compact with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with two important 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 Native betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Native bands, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger from 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All kinds of owners try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a hot button factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.