Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a complex gaming history. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with 2 important local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Native tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gambling as a key factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.