Casino Tips

Read more about the
Las Vegas 2024 Super
Bowl Streaker!

New Mexico has a complex gaming past. When the IGRA was signed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Indian bands. When the panel came to an accord with two important local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased since 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game providers acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since then. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting over gambling as an important issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.