New Mexico has a complex gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to draft a contract with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force arrived at an accord with two important local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Native bands, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. Ten years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gaming as a key issue like they did in the 1990’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.
