02.06
Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a rocky gambling history. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico Indian bands. When the working group arrived at an agreement with two important local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Native bands, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby denying 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 process moving on a full compact amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners try for a slice of the action. With hope, the politicos are through batting over gaming as a hot button matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.