Bingo in New Mexico

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New Mexico has a bitter gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico Native bands. When the panel arrived at an agreement with 2 big local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the compact with the Native tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore denying the state 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 house, to get the process moving on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. Ten years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo industry has increased since 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game owners brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.

Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of owners try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a hot button factor like they did in the 90’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.