03.01
New Mexico Bingo
New Mexico has a rocky gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate an accord with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with two big local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Native gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the American Indian bands, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has gotten bigger from 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All types of providers look for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting over gambling as an important factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.
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