New Mexico has a stormy gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the working group arrived at an agreement with two important local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that American Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the compact with the Native bands, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting over gaming as a key issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.