Bingo in New Mexico

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

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the panel arrived at an agreement with two prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King refused 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 betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Native bands, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. 10 years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has grown since 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game providers brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since then. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a hot button factor like they did in the 90’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.