New Mexico has a rocky gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to discuss a contract with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the panel came to an agreement with two prominent local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the American Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a slice of the action. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gaming as an important matter like they did back in the 90’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.