New Mexico has a stormy gambling background. When the IGRA was signed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create an accord with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the working group arrived at an agreement with 2 big local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Native gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the Indian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby denying the government 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 accord between the State of New Mexico and its Native tribes. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game providers acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues 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 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All types of operators try for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gambling as an important matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.
