New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to draft a compact with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 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 over in 1995, it seemed that Native gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, therefore costing 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, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gaming as a hot button issue like they did in the 1990’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.