New Mexico has a stormy gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico Native tribes. When the panel came to an agreement with two important local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has grown from 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game owners acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting around gambling as an important factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.