New Mexico Bingo

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

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Indian bands. When the working group arrived at an agreement with 2 important local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus costing 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 house, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. Ten years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo industry has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game owners brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gambling as a key factor like they did in the 90’s. That is probably wishful thinking.