Bingo in New Mexico
Tuesday, 18. February 2020
New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the IGRA was passed 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 assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in Nineteen Ninety to discuss an accord with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the working group arrived at an agreement with 2 big local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby 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 house, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All sorts of providers look for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting over gaming as a key matter like they did in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.
Posted in Casino by Dayana