11.06
Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a complex 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 cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in Nineteen Ninety to discuss an accord with New Mexico Native tribes. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 big local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Native gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting over gaming as a key factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.
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