Bingo in New Mexico

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New Mexico has a rocky gambling past. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to draft a contract with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Indian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the Indian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has increased since 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gambling as a hot button factor like they did back in the 90’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.