New Mexico has a bitter gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Native casino craze. Politics assured 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 Indian tribes. When the panel came to an agreement with two important local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Native bands, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has grown from 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gambling as an important issue like they did back in the 90’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.