New Mexico has a stormy gaming background. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the panel came to an agreement with two important local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the American Indian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gaming as an important matter like they did in the 1990’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.
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