New Mexico has a stormy 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 get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the panel arrived at an agreement with 2 big local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Native tribes, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has grown since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All types of owners try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting over gambling as a key issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.
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