New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a rocky gambling history. When the IGRA was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in 1990 to create a compact with New Mexico Indian bands. When the working group arrived at an agreement with two big local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the American Indian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting over gaming as a key factor like they did in the 1990’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.