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New Mexico has a stormy gambling history. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create an accord with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 important local tribes 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 1995, it seemed that Native gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Amerindian tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had outstepped his bounds in signing a deal, therefore denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of providers look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gambling as a hot button matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.
