Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a complex gaming past. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Native casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 big local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the American Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. 10 years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased since 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a piece of the action. With hope, the politicians are through batting around gambling as an important factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.
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