New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a bitter gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the panel arrived at an agreement with two important local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Amerindian bands, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting over gambling as a key matter like they did back in the 90’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.
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