Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create an accord with New Mexico Native bands. When the panel arrived at an accord with two important local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Indian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the American Indian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus 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, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. Ten years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All types of owners look for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gambling as an important factor like they did in the 90’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.