New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to discuss an accord with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force came to an accord with 2 important local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Indian tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby costing the state of New Mexico 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 contract between the State of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gambling as an important issue like they did in the 1990’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.