New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to draft an accord with New Mexico Native bands. When the panel came to an agreement with 2 prominent local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Amerindian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Native tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby denying the state 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 government, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a hot button issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.
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