Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a stormy gaming background. When the IGRA was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to create an accord with New Mexico Native tribes. When the panel arrived at 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 Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. 10 years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game providers acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a hot button factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.