Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a rocky gaming past. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in 1990 to draft a compact with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the panel came to an agreement with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
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 compact with the Amerindian tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a key matter like they did in the 1990’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.