New Mexico has a rocky gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to draft an accord with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the panel arrived at an accord with 2 prominent local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the Indian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus 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 legislature, to get the process moving on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gaming as a hot button matter like they did in the 90’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.