New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force came to an accord with two prominent local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Amerindian bands, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. 10 years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has increased since 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game operators acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gaming as an important matter like they did in the 1990’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.
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