New Mexico has a complex gambling past. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to discuss an accord with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the task force came to an agreement with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the Native tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Native tribes. Ten years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of providers look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gambling as an important matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.