New Mexico Bingo

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New Mexico has a bitter gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in Nineteen Ninety to draft an accord with New Mexico Native tribes. When the working group came to an accord with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that American Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. Ten years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has grown since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.

Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All types of owners look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gaming as a key factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.