New Mexico has a bitter gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to discuss an accord with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the working group came to an accord with 2 important local bands 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 Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that American Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Native tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has grown since 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of operators look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting over gambling as a key factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.
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