New Mexico has a bitter gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a contract with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the working group came to an accord with two important local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Native wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the American Indian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. Ten years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is certainly favored 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 issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.
