Bingo in New Mexico

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New Mexico has a bitter gaming background. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to create an accord with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the working group came to an agreement with two big local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the Native tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus denying the government 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 process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicians are through batting over gaming as a hot button issue like they did back in the 90’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.