Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the IGRA was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in 1990 to create a contract with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the working group came to an accord with two big local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held 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 now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the American Indian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a hot button matter like they did back in the 90’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.