New Mexico has a bitter gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in 1990 to create a contract with New Mexico Indian bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with two important local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that American Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the American Indian bands, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a hot button matter like they did back in the 90’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.
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