New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to discuss a compact with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the panel came to an agreement with two prominent local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a hot button issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.
