New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress 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 would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to negotiate a contract with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the panel arrived at an agreement with two big local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gambling 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 compact, thereby denying the state of New Mexico 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 contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. Ten years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All types of owners look for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gambling as a hot button factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.