New Mexico Bingo

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New Mexico has a rocky gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate an accord with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the working group came to an agreement with two prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Native bands, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus denying the government 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 ball rolling on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All types of owners try for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a hot button matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.