New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a rocky gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create an accord with New Mexico Indian bands. When the task force came to an agreement with two important local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Native gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Native tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full contract between the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. 10 years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gambling as an important factor like they did in the 90’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.