New Mexico has a stormy gaming history. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to draft an accord with New Mexico Indian bands. When the panel arrived at an accord with 2 big local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that American Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the compact with the Native tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting around gaming as a hot button matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.