New Mexico has a rocky gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to create an accord with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the panel arrived at an agreement with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Amerindian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Amerindian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped 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 took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All types of providers look for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicians are through batting around gaming as an important issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.