New Mexico has a complex gaming past. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to draft a contract with New Mexico Indian bands. When the panel arrived at an accord with 2 big local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the compact with the Amerindian bands, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus 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 amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gaming as an important issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.