New Mexico has a bitter gaming past. When the IGRA was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked 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 assembled a working group in 1990 to create a contract with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the panel arrived at an agreement with 2 big local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Amerindian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the American Indian tribes, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. 10 years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game providers acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gambling as a key issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.