New Mexico has a rocky gaming history. When the IGRA was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in 1990 to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 big local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
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 passed the contract with the American Indian bands, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. 10 years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gambling as a key factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.
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