New Mexico has a complex gaming past. 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 guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to discuss a compact with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the task force arrived at an agreement with two prominent local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus denying the government 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 government, to get the process moving on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game owners brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All sorts of operators look for a piece of the action. With hope, the politicos are through batting over gambling as an important matter like they did in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.
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