New Mexico Bingo

Read more about the
Las Vegas 2024 Super
Bowl Streaker!

New Mexico has a complex gaming history. When the IGRA was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in 1990 to draft a contract with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the working group arrived at an accord with 2 big local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the compact with the Native bands, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, therefore costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. 10 years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gaming as a hot button matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.