New Mexico has a rocky gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House 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 announced a working group in 1990 to draft an accord with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in 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 earnings have increased constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gaming as a key factor like they did back in the 90’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.