New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in 1990 to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the working group came to an agreement with two big local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Native tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus 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 government, to get the process moving on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. 10 years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a hot button matter like they did in the 90’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.