New Mexico has a stormy gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to discuss an accord with New Mexico Indian bands. When the panel came to an accord with two big local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Native gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game operators acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gaming as an important matter like they did back in the 90’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.
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