New Mexico has a stormy gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to create a contract with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the panel came to an agreement with 2 big local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore 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, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. Ten years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game owners brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since then. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gaming as an important factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.