Bingo in New Mexico

New Mexico has a bitter gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to create a compact with New Mexico Indian bands. When the panel arrived at an accord with two prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that American Indian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the Native tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gaming as a key factor like they did in the 1990’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.


Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Search on this site:


Categories: