New Mexico has a stormy gaming history. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in Nineteen Ninety to draft a contract with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force came to an accord with two big local bands a year later, Governor King 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 Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Native bands, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has grown since 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since that time. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gaming as a key issue like they did in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.
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