New Mexico has a complex gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to discuss a contract with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the task force came to an accord with two important local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. Ten years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has increased since 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since that time. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting over gambling as a key matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.
