Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico Native tribes. When the working group came to an accord 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 seemed that Native wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the American Indian bands, anti-wagering forces were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, 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 burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has gotten bigger from 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gambling as a hot button issue like they did in the 90’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.
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