New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to negotiate a contract with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the working group came to an accord with two prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, therefore denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game operators acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All types of providers look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gambling as a key factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.