New Mexico has a rocky gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to discuss a contract with New Mexico Indian bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with 2 big local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Native bands, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All types of owners try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gambling as an important factor like they did back in the 90’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.
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