New Mexico has a bitter gambling past. 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 Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to draft a contract with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the panel arrived at an agreement with two big local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that American Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the compact with the Indian tribes, anti-wagering forces were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. 10 years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a key matter like they did back in the 90’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.
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