10.11
New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a stormy gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Native bands. When the panel arrived at an accord with 2 big local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the compact with the Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting over gaming as an important matter like they did in the 90’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.