Casino Information

Read more about the
Las Vegas 2024 Super
Bowl Streaker!

New Mexico has a rocky gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the working group arrived at an agreement with two big local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Amerindian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the compact with the Amerindian tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, 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, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo business has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gaming as an important factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.