New Mexico has a stormy gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the working group came to an accord with 2 big local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Native bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus 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, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. 10 years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has increased since 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All types of operators try for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting over gaming as a key matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.
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