New Mexico has a rocky gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, 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 announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico Native bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with two important local tribes a year later, Governor King refused 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 Amerindian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Amerindian tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. Ten years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gaming as an important issue like they did back in the 90’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.