New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force came to an agreement with 2 big local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He held 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 Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Amerindian tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues 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 amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. 10 years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gambling as a hot button issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.
