Bingo in New Mexico
Posted in Casino on 03/05/2016 04:21 am by Esperanza
New Mexico has a stormy gaming history. 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 Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the working group came to an agreement with 2 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 over 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 American Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicians are through batting over gaming as a hot button matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.