New Mexico has a bitter gambling past. When the IGRA was signed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with 2 important local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Native betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the Native bands, anti-gambling groups 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, therefore denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game providers acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All types of owners look for a slice of the action. With hope, the politicians are done batting around gaming as an important matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.