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New Mexico has a bitter gaming past. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to draft an accord with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with two prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that American Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Native bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, therefore denying 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 process moving on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gaming as a hot button factor like they did in the 90’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.
