New Mexico has a rocky gaming history. When the IGRA was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the panel came to an agreement with 2 big local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Indian tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since then. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting over gambling as a hot button matter like they did in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.
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