Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Indian bands. When the panel came to an accord with two big local tribes 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 Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Amerindian bands, anti-wagering forces were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting over gambling as a key issue like they did in the 1990’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.
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