Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a complex gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force came to an accord with 2 prominent local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Indian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full contract between the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. Ten years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has grown from 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since then. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gaming as an important factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.
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