New Mexico has a stormy gambling background. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in Nineteen Ninety to discuss an accord with New Mexico Native bands. When the working group came to an accord with two important local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the American Indian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has gotten bigger from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All kinds of providers look for a slice of the action. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gaming as an important matter like they did back in the 90’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.