New Mexico has a stormy gaming history. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in Nineteen Ninety to create a compact with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the panel arrived at an accord with 2 important local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the American Indian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since then. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of providers look for a slice of the action. With hope, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a key issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.
This entry was posted on March 24, 2026, 3:25 am and is filed under Casino. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.