Bingo in New Mexico
Monday, 9. February 2026
New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the IGRA was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in 1990 to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the working group arrived at an agreement with 2 big local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Native bands, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full contract between the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of owners try for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gaming as a key factor like they did back in the 90’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.
Posted in Casino by Carla