New Mexico Bingo

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New Mexico has a rocky gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to create a contract with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the working group arrived at an accord with 2 important 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 office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the Native bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All sorts of providers look for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting over gaming as an important issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.