New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a rocky gambling history. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in Nineteen Ninety to create a compact with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with two big local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the American Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has increased from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game owners brought in only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased constantly 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 operators look for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gaming as a key factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.
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