Bingo in New Mexico

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New Mexico has a bitter gaming background. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create a compact with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the panel came to an accord with 2 important local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the American Indian bands, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. 10 years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.

Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gaming as a hot button factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.