New Mexico Bingo

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New Mexico has a bitter gaming past. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a compact with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the working group came to an agreement with two important local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Native tribes, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All kinds of owners try for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a key factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.