New Mexico has a rocky gaming past. When the IGRA was signed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with two big local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Amerindian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore 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 accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. 10 years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game owners brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gaming as a hot button issue like they did in the 90’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.