New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a bitter gambling 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 Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to discuss a contract with New Mexico Indian bands. When the working group came to an agreement with 2 big local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
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 passed the accord with the Native bands, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore costing 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, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gaming as an important issue like they did in the 1990’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.