New Mexico has a rocky 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 American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the working group arrived at an agreement with two big local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that American Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the American Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since then. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting over gambling as an important matter like they did back in the 90’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.