New Mexico has a bitter gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in 1990 to discuss an accord with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force came to an agreement with 2 important local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the American Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. 10 years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All types of providers look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a key issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.
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