New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a stormy gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to draft a compact with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the panel came to an accord with two big local tribes a year later, the Governor declined 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 American Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Native bands, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. 10 years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game providers brought in only $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 grown constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All kinds of providers look for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gambling as a key issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.
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