03.06
Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to draft an accord with New Mexico Native tribes. When the working group arrived at an accord with two important local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. Ten years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has gotten bigger from 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All types of providers look for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gaming as an important issue like they did in the 90’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.
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