New Mexico has a bitter gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to draft an accord with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the working group arrived at an agreement with two prominent local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the American Indian bands, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. 10 years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gaming as an important issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.