New Mexico has a rocky gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in Nineteen Ninety to draft a contract with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the working group arrived at an accord with 2 prominent local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that American Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the American Indian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All types of operators try for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicians are through batting over gambling as an important issue like they did in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.