New Mexico has a complex gaming history. 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 cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the task force came to an accord 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 Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore denying the government of New Mexico many 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 process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. 10 years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of providers look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a key issue like they did in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.