New Mexico Bingo
Thursday, 24. September 2015
New Mexico has a bitter gambling history. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a contract with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the panel came to an agreement with two big local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the Native bands, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus costing the state 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 State of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown since 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gambling as an important issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.
Posted in Casino by Zain