New Mexico has a complex gambling background. 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 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 discuss a compact with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 prominent local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the American Indian tribes, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, therefore denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gambling as a key factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.