New Mexico has a complex gaming background. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in 1990 to discuss a contract with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the panel arrived at an accord with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Indian bands, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has grown from 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All sorts of providers look for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gambling as a key issue like they did back in the 90’s. That is probably wishful thinking.
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