Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a stormy gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to create an accord with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with 2 big 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 over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Indian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Native tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus denying the state 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 house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has gotten bigger from 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since then. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All types of owners try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gambling as a hot button matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.
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