Bingo in New Mexico

Sunday, 6. March 2022

New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the IGRA 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 assured that would not be the case.

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

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the American Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, therefore denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. Ten years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of providers look for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gambling as a key matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.

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