New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the IGRA was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in 1990 to create a contract with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the working group came to an agreement with two important local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Native tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All types of owners try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting over gaming as an important issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.
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