New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Native tribes. When the panel came to an agreement with 2 important local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He held 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 the new Governor signed the accord with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. 10 years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All types of owners try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gaming as a hot button factor like they did in the 90’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.
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