New Mexico has a rocky gaming history. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to discuss a contract with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force arrived at an agreement with two important local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Amerindian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger from 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game providers brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gaming as a hot button matter like they did back in the 90’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.
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