New Mexico has a bitter gambling past. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a contract with New Mexico Native bands. When the working group came to an agreement with two big local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Native gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the Indian bands, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gaming as a hot button factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.