New Mexico has a stormy gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in Nineteen Ninety to create a compact with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force came to an agreement with two important local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Native wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the American Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a slice of the action. With hope, the politicians are done batting around gaming as a hot button factor like they did in the 1990’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.
