New Mexico Bingo
Friday, 7. March 2025
New Mexico has a complex gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to create an accord with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force came to an accord with 2 prominent local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Native gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Indian bands, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All types of owners look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gaming as a hot button factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.
Posted in Bingo by Taryn