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New Mexico Bingo

New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to create an accord with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force came to an agreement with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the Native bands, anti-wagering 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 accord, therefore costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting around gaming as a key issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.

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