New Mexico Bingo

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New Mexico has a bitter gaming 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 Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to create a contract with New Mexico Native bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with two important local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Amerindian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Native bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby denying 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, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of operators look for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gambling as a hot button factor like they did in the 90’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.