New Mexico has a stormy gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create an accord with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with two big local bands 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 over in 1995, it seemed that Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Native tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus 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 government, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a piece 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 is probably hopeful thinking.