New Mexico has a bitter gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a compact with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the panel came to an agreement with 2 prominent local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Native wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Amerindian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. Ten years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game owners brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting over gambling as a key matter like they did in the 90’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.
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