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Bingo in New Mexico

New Mexico has a complex gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to draft a compact with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the working group came to an accord with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that American Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Amerindian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo industry has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.

Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All types of owners look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gambling as a hot button matter like they did in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.

Posted in Bingo.


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