New Mexico has a bitter gaming past. When the IGRA was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the panel arrived at an accord with two prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Indian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of owners try for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicians are through batting around gambling as an important factor like they did in the 90’s. That is probably wishful thinking.