New Mexico has a rocky gambling history. When the IGRA was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a compact with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the working group came to an accord with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Amerindian bands, anti-wagering forces were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees 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 compact amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. 10 years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown from 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of operators look for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting over gaming as a hot button factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.