New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to discuss an accord with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the working group came to an accord with two important local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Native bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby denying the state 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 government, to get the process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown since 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting over gaming as a hot button issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.