New Mexico has a stormy gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Native bands. When the working group arrived at an agreement with two important local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held 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 now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Amerindian bands, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicians are through batting over gambling as a hot button issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.