New Mexico Bingo
by Heath on Thursday, June 29th, 2023
New Mexico has a bitter gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to draft a contract with New Mexico Native bands. When the panel came to an agreement with 2 prominent local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Indian bands, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the 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 CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has grown since 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game providers 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 revenues have increased steadily since that time. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All types of providers look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gaming as a key factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.
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