Bingo in New Mexico
Posted in Bingo on 11/11/2025 02:25 am by Eileen
New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico Indian bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with two prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Native gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Amerindian tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, therefore 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, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. Ten years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has increased since 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since that time. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting over gaming as a hot button factor like they did in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.