New Mexico has a rocky gaming past. When the IGRA was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would 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 working group in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Native tribes. When the working group arrived at an accord with two prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that American Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. 10 years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All kinds of owners try for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gambling as an important matter like they did in the 1990’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.