New Mexico has a stormy gambling background. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to discuss a contract with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force came to an agreement with 2 important local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the Indian bands, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus costing 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 government, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a hot button issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.
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