New Mexico has a stormy gaming background. 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 cash in on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in 1990 to draft an accord with New Mexico Indian bands. When the working group came to an agreement with 2 big local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Native bands, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. Ten years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased since 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of providers look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gaming as a key matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.
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