New Mexico Bingo

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New Mexico has a rocky gambling background. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in 1990 to create a compact with New Mexico Native tribes. When the working group arrived at an agreement with two important local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

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

It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo business has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicians are through batting over gaming as an important factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.