Bingo in New Mexico

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New Mexico has a rocky gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the panel arrived at an agreement with two big local bands 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 office in 1995, it seemed that Native gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the American Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. Ten years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has gotten bigger from 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a hot button factor like they did back in the 90’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.