New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. 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 get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the task force arrived at an agreement with two big local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Amerindian tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All types of owners try for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicians are through batting around gaming as a hot button factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.
