Read more about the
Las Vegas 2024 Super
Bowl Streaker!

New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the IGRA was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to draft a contract with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the task force came to an agreement with two important local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the Amerindian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby costing the state 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 legislature, to get the process moving on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game providers acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since then. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting over gambling as a hot button issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.