New Mexico has a complex gambling 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 Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 important local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the American Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a slice of the action. With hope, the politicos are done batting over gaming as a key factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.