New Mexico Bingo
Sunday, 20. September 2020
New Mexico has a rocky gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create a compact with New Mexico Native bands. When the panel arrived at an agreement with 2 important local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus 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 process moving on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since that time. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All types of owners look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gaming as a hot button factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.
Posted in Casino by Franco