Oklahoma Bingo Bingo and Oklahoma: Two birds of a feather
Dec 252022

New Mexico has a rocky gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force arrived at an agreement with two prominent local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Native gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo industry has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All types of operators try for a piece of the action. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gambling as a hot button matter like they did back in the 90’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

© 2009 Sayontan Sinha | Suffusion WordPress theme
preload