New Mexico has a bitter gaming past. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to draft a contract with New Mexico Native bands. When the working group came to an agreement with two big local tribes a year later, Governor King declined 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 seemed that American Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Native tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. Ten years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All types of providers look for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gambling as an important issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.