New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to create an accord with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with two big local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the American Indian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All types of providers look for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicos are through batting around gambling as an important matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.