New Mexico has a rocky gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in Nineteen Ninety to discuss an accord with New Mexico Indian bands. When the task force came to an agreement with two big local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has grown since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicians are through batting over gambling as an important issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.
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