Bingo in New Mexico

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New Mexico has a stormy gaming background. 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 get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Indian bands. When the working group came to an accord with two important local bands 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 appeared that Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Indian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. 10 years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.

Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All types of operators try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gaming as a hot button matter like they did in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.