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 cash in on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to create a compact with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the panel arrived at an accord with two important local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Native gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Indian bands, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus costing the state 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 legislature, to get the process moving on a full contract between the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of providers look for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicians are through batting over gaming as a key matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.
