02.08
Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a complex gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to create a contract with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force came to an agreement with two prominent local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the Native tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. 10 years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game providers acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gaming as an important factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.
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