New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the task force arrived at an agreement with 2 prominent 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 1995, it seemed that Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the American Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has grown from 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All kinds of owners try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting over gaming as an important factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.
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