New Mexico has a rocky gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in 1990 to discuss a contract with New Mexico Native tribes. When the panel came to an accord with two big local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Native tribes, anti-wagering forces were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gaming as a hot button matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.