New Mexico Bingo

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New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a compact with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with two prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

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

It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game owners acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one 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 categorically favored in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gaming as a hot button factor like they did back in the 90’s. That is probably wishful thinking.