• Home

Read more about the
Las Vegas 2024 Super
Bowl Streaker!

New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an agreement with two big local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Amerindian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, 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 house, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. Ten years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown since 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gambling as a hot button matter like they did in the 90’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.

Log in