New Mexico has a rocky gambling history. 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 cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico Indian bands. When the task force came to an accord with 2 important local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the American Indian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. 10 years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gambling as a key factor like they did in the 90’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.
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