New Mexico has a stormy gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate an accord with New Mexico American Indian tribes. 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 Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Amerindian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All kinds of owners try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gambling as a hot button factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.
