Bingo Tricks

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New Mexico has a bitter gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to discuss an accord with New Mexico Native tribes. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 prominent local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. Ten years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gambling as a key matter like they did in the 90’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.