New Mexico has a complex gaming history. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to discuss a contract with New Mexico Native tribes. When the panel came to an accord with two big local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that American Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the compact with the Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gambling as a key matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.
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