New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a rocky gambling past. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to discuss a compact with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the panel arrived at an agreement with 2 important local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the Native bands, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby 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, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All types of operators try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a key matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.