Bingo in New Mexico
Posted in Bingo on 02/07/2025 04:25 pm by Eileen
New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to draft an accord with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the task force came to an agreement with 2 important local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Amerindian bands, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All types of operators try for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gaming as an important matter like they did back in the 90’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.