Bingo in New Mexico

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New Mexico has a stormy gambling history. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to draft a compact with New Mexico Indian bands. When the panel arrived at an accord with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that American Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Native bands, anti-wagering forces were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees 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 compact amongst the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game providers brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gaming as an important matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.