New Mexico has a bitter gaming past. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to discuss a compact with New Mexico Indian bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with 2 prominent local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that American Indian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. 10 years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game owners acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since then. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All sorts of providers look for a slice of the action. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gaming as a hot button issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.
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