New Mexico has a rocky gaming background. When the IGRA was passed 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 guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to draft a contract with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force arrived at an agreement with two prominent 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 office in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the American Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby costing the state 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 accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has grown since 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in just $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. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gambling as an important issue like they did in the 1990’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.
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