New Mexico has a rocky gaming history. When the IGRA was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to create a compact with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the task force came to an agreement with 2 important local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Amerindian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, therefore denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gaming as a key factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.
This entry was posted on January 20, 2025, 6:25 pm and is filed under Bingo. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.