Bingo in New Mexico

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New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to discuss a contract with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the task force came to an accord with 2 big local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Indian bands, anti-wagering forces were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues 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 between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since then. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicians are through batting over gaming as a key matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.