New Mexico has a stormy gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in Nineteen Ninety to create an accord with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 important local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Native gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the American Indian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. Ten years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has increased since 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All sorts of operators look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gaming as an important matter like they did back in the 90’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.
June 7th, 2025
Marques
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