New Mexico has a bitter gaming history. When the IGRA was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to draft an accord with New Mexico Native bands. When the panel came to an agreement with 2 important local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the American Indian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped 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 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 Native bands. Ten years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All sorts of operators look for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicians are done batting around gambling as a hot button matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.
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