06.04
Bingo in New Mexico
New Mexico has a bitter gaming past. When the IGRA was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to create an accord with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the task force arrived at an accord with two prominent local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Amerindian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the American Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus costing the government of New Mexico many 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 State of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a hot button matter like they did back in the 90’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.