New Mexico has a bitter gaming history. When the IGRA was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in 1990 to discuss an accord with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the working group arrived at an agreement with two prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Indian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the Native tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst 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 from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gambling as a key issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.