New Mexico has a rocky gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to draft a contract with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the panel came to an agreement with 2 important local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Amerindian bands, anti-wagering forces were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had outstepped his bounds in signing the deal, 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 process moving on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has increased since 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All kinds of owners try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gambling as a important matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.
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