New Mexico has a bitter gambling history. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a compact with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force came to an agreement with 2 big local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that American Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the Indian 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 deal, therefore denying the government of New Mexico 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 compact between the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. 10 years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico non-profit game operators acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of providers look for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gaming as a key matter like they did in the 90’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.