New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a rocky gaming history. When the IGRA was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Indian bands. When the task force came to an accord with 2 important local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Native betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gaming as a hot button factor like they did in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.
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