Bingo in New Mexico

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New Mexico has a rocky gambling background. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Native tribes. When the panel arrived at an agreement with two important local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the Native tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico non-profit game operators acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gaming as a key factor like they did in the 90’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.