New Mexico has a rocky gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to discuss an accord with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the working group arrived at an accord with 2 big local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the Native bands, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. 10 years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has grown since 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of owners try for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gambling as an important factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.