New Mexico has a stormy gaming background. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a contract with New Mexico Indian bands. When the working group came to an accord with two important local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gambling as an important issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.