New Mexico Bingo


New Mexico has a rocky gambling background. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to create a compact with New Mexico Native tribes. When the task force came to an accord with two big local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Indian bands, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. 10 years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All kinds of providers look for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting around gambling as a hot button matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.

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