New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to draft an accord with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the working group arrived at an agreement with 2 important local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Native bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicians are through batting around gambling as a key matter like they did in the 90’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.