New Mexico has a complex gaming history. When the IGRA was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico Native bands. When the panel arrived at an agreement with 2 big local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the American Indian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers brought in only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a key issue like they did in the 90’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.