New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to create an accord with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the panel came to an agreement with 2 big local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Native wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Indian tribes, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus denying the state 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 contract between the State of New Mexico and its Native tribes. Ten years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of providers look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gaming as a key matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.