New Mexico has a stormy gaming background. When the IGRA was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to create an accord with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the panel came to an accord with two important local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Native gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Native bands, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the State of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All types of operators try for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a key factor like they did in the 1990’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.
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