Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a complex gambling history. When the IGRA was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in 1990 to discuss a contract with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the task force came to an agreement with two big local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Native bands, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All types of operators try for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gambling as a key issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.
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