New Mexico Bingo

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New Mexico has a complex gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in 1990 to create a contract with New Mexico Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Native gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the American Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a slice of the action. With hope, the politicos are done batting over gambling as an important factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.