New Mexico has a complex gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in Nineteen Ninety to draft an accord with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the working group came to an agreement with two prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the Native bands, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. 10 years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All types of operators try for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting around gambling as a hot button issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.