New Mexico Bingo
Saturday, 13. June 2026
New Mexico has a rocky gambling background. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked 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 announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force came to an agreement with 2 important local bands a year later, Governor King declined 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 Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby costing the government 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 legislature, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. Ten years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gaming as an important matter like they did in the 90’s. That is probably wishful thinking.
Posted in Casino by Kadyn