Bingo in New Mexico
Posted in Casino on 05/27/2025 08:25 am by Gloria
New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Native tribes. When the panel came to an agreement with two important local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the American Indian 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 the deal, thereby denying the government 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 process moving on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. Ten years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gambling as an important matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.