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 cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in 1990 to create an accord with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the task force arrived at an agreement with two prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the American Indian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby costing the government 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 government, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. 10 years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gambling as a key factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.
