New Mexico has a bitter gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to create a contract with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with two prominent local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the American Indian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. 10 years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of operators look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gambling as an important factor like they did back in the 90’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.