New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the IGRA was signed by the House 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 working group in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Indian bands. When the panel arrived at an agreement with two big local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Indian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the American Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, 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 accord between the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. Ten years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gambling as a hot button factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.