New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with two prominent local bands 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 office in 1995, it seemed that Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the American Indian bands, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. 10 years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has gotten bigger since 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of providers look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gaming as an important matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.