New Mexico has a bitter gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Native casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Native bands. When the panel 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 1995, it seemed that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Amerindian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gaming as an important factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.