06.16
New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a complex gaming history. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the working group arrived at an agreement with 2 prominent local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the American Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gambling as a hot button factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.