New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the IGRA was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to create a contract with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the panel came to an accord with 2 important local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the Native bands, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. 10 years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game providers acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of providers look for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting over gaming as a key matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.