New Mexico has a bitter gaming background. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the task force came to an agreement with two big local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Native betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the American Indian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby 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 house, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. 10 years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has grown since 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since then. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gambling as an important matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.