New Mexico has a rocky gambling history. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a contract with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the task force arrived at an agreement with two important local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the Native bands, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. Ten years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting around gambling as an important issue like they did back in the 90’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.
