New Mexico has a bitter gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to draft an accord with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the task force came to an accord with two prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Native tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. 10 years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gaming as a hot button factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.
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