11.12
Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the task force came to an accord with 2 big local bands a year later, the Governor 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 Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus denying the government of New Mexico many 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 contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. 10 years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting over gambling as an important issue like they did back in the 90’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.