New Mexico Bingo
Posted in Casino on 10/14/2026 09:25 am by Dakota
New Mexico has a bitter gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to create a compact with New Mexico Native tribes. When the panel came to an accord with two big local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Indian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Native bands, anti-wagering forces were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. 10 years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has grown from 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All types of owners try for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a key issue like they did back in the 90’s. That is probably wishful thinking.