New Mexico has a bitter gaming history. When the IGRA was signed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to draft a contract with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the task force came to an agreement with two important local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Native bands, anti-gambling groups 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 deal, therefore costing 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 process moving on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gaming as a key issue like they did in the 1990’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.
