Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a bitter gambling history. When the IGRA was signed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to draft a compact with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the working group came to an accord with 2 big local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the American Indian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus denying the state of New Mexico many 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 amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of operators look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gambling as an important matter like they did in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.
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