New Mexico has a complex gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a contract with New Mexico Indian bands. When the panel came to an accord with 2 big local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Native bands, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby 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 process moving on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. 10 years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a piece of the action. With hope, the politicians are through batting over gambling as a key factor like they did back in the 90’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.
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