New Mexico has a rocky gambling past. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to draft a compact with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force came to an accord with two important 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 office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Indian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gaming as a key factor like they did in the 90’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.