New Mexico has a stormy gambling background. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a compact with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an agreement with two prominent local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. 10 years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gaming as a key matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.