New Mexico has a bitter gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to discuss an accord with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the working group came to an accord with 2 important local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Native bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gaming as an important factor like they did in the 1990’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.
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