New Mexico has a rocky gaming history. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to create an accord with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the working group came to an accord with two prominent local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Amerindian bands, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. 10 years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of owners try for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gaming as an important matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.
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