New Mexico has a stormy gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in 1990 to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force arrived at an accord with two prominent local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. 10 years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game owners brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a hot button issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.