New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the panel arrived at an accord with two big local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Amerindian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the American Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups 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, therefore costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has grown since 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All types of providers look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gaming as a key matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.