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New Mexico has a rocky gaming past. When the IGRA was passed 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 assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a contract with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an agreement with two important local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
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 signed the contract with the American Indian tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. Ten years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has grown since 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a hot button issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.
