New Mexico has a stormy gambling history. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to create a contract with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the panel arrived at an accord with 2 important local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Native bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby 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 process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. 10 years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gaming as a key issue like they did in the 90’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.