New Mexico Bingo

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New Mexico has a bitter gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in 1990 to discuss an accord with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force came to an agreement with two big local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the American Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a key factor like they did back in the 90’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.