New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a rocky gambling background. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a contract with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the panel came to an accord with 2 big local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Indian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby denying the government 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 house, to get the process moving on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has grown since 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gambling as a key issue like they did in the 90’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.