New Mexico Bingo

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New Mexico has a rocky gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the task force came to an accord with two prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Native wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped 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 CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. 10 years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has gotten bigger from 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gambling as an important issue like they did in the 90’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.