Bingo in New Mexico

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New Mexico has a complex gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in Nineteen Ninety to create a compact with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with two important local tribes 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 Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Amerindian bands, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting around gambling as an important matter like they did back in the 90’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.