Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a stormy gambling background. 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 get on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to draft a contract with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the working group arrived at an accord with 2 important local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Native gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Native tribes. 10 years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a key matter like they did back in the 90’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.