New Mexico has a bitter gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Native tribes. When the panel came to 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 office in 1995, it seemed that American Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the Native bands, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners try for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gambling as an important factor like they did back in the 90’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.