• Home

Read more about the
Las Vegas 2024 Super
Bowl Streaker!

New Mexico has a bitter gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in Nineteen Ninety to draft a contract with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an agreement with 2 big 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 Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the American Indian bands, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore costing the state 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 legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. Ten years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has gotten bigger since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.

Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting around gambling as a key issue like they did in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.

Log in