Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a bitter gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to discuss a contract with New Mexico Indian bands. When the panel came to an agreement with 2 important local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the Indian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a hot button factor like they did in the 1990’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.