New Mexico has a stormy gambling background. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a compact with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the working group came to an accord with 2 important local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Indian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus costing the government 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 process moving on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All types of owners try for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicians are through batting around gambling as an important issue like they did in the 1990’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.
