Bingo in New Mexico
Posted in Casino on 07/13/2026 09:25 am by Gloria
New Mexico has a stormy gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Native casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in 1990 to create a contract with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the task force arrived at an accord with two big local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Amerindian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, therefore denying 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, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. 10 years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has grown since 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game owners brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gaming as a hot button issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.