Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a bitter gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico Native bands. When the panel arrived at an agreement 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 office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Amerindian bands, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All types of owners try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gaming as a key matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.
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