02.27
New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a bitter gaming history. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the task force arrived at an agreement with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. 10 years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game owners brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a hot button factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.
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