New Mexico has a complex gambling past. When the IGRA was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in 1990 to create an accord with New Mexico Native tribes. When the working group came to an agreement with two important local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore 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 legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gambling as a hot button factor like they did in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.