New Mexico has a stormy gaming history. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to draft an accord with New Mexico Native tribes. When the panel came to an agreement with two prominent local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Native betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Native tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. Ten years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gambling as an important factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.