New Mexico has a complex gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in 1990 to draft an accord with New Mexico Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 important local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Native tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus 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 house, to get the process moving on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gambling as a hot button factor like they did in the 1990’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.