New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to discuss an accord with New Mexico Native bands. When the panel came to an agreement with two prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the Native tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor 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 compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All types of owners try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gambling as an important factor like they did back in the 90’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.
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