Bingo My Bingo Blog

Read more about the
Las Vegas 2024 Super
Bowl Streaker!

New Mexico has a bitter gaming history. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a contract with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the compact with the Native bands, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby denying 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 house, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. 10 years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.

Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gambling as an important factor like they did back in the 90's. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.