New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to draft a compact with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with two prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the American Indian bands, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. Ten years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game owners acquired just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a slice of the action. With hope, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a key matter like they did in the 90’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.