New Mexico has a complex gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force came to an accord with two prominent local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the American Indian bands, 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 costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of operators look for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a key issue like they did in the 90’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.
