Bingo in New Mexico

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New Mexico has a rocky gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to draft an accord with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 important local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the American Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, therefore costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. Ten years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown from 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of providers look for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gambling as an important issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.