Bingo in New Mexico
Tuesday, 16. September 2025
New Mexico has a stormy gambling background. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to create a contract with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the panel came to an accord with 2 prominent local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the American Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gaming as a key issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.
Posted in Casino by Gwendolyn