New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to draft an accord with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force came to an agreement with two big local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Indian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Native tribes, anti-wagering forces were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore 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 process moving on a full contract between the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. Ten years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gaming as an important issue like they did back in the 90’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.
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