New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Native bands. When the panel came to an agreement with 2 prominent 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 office in 1995, it seemed that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby costing the state 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 government, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. 10 years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gambling as a hot button matter like they did in the 90’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.