New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to discuss an accord with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 prominent 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 office in 1995, it appeared that American Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Native tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus denying the state 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 ball rolling on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has increased from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a slice of the action. With hope, the politicos are done batting over gaming as an important matter like they did in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.
