Bingo in New Mexico

February 21st, 2022 by Isabel Leave a reply »

New Mexico has a rocky gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would 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 appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a contract with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the panel 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 American Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Indian bands, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, therefore denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.

Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a hot button issue like they did in the 90’s. That is probably wishful thinking.

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