New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the working group came to an agreement with two important 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 over in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore costing the government 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 government, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All types of operators try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gaming as a key factor like they did in the 90’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.
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