New Mexico Bingo

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New Mexico has a complex gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with 2 important local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Amerindian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus costing the government of New Mexico 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 compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.

Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gambling as an important factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.