New Mexico has a rocky gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might 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 task force in Nineteen Ninety to create an accord with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the working group came to an agreement with 2 big local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Native tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus denying 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 process moving on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has grown since 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All sorts of providers look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gambling as a hot button issue like they did back in the 90’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.
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