New Mexico Bingo

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New Mexico has a stormy gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a contract with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the panel came to an agreement with 2 prominent local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the American Indian bands, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore 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 government, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.

Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gaming as an important matter like they did in the 90’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.