New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an agreement with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Indian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Native tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a slice of the action. With hope, the politicos are through batting around gaming as an important matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.