New Mexico has a rocky gaming past. When the IGRA was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the task force came to an accord with 2 prominent local bands a year later, the Governor declined 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 Native gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the American Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, 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, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. 10 years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has grown since 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting over gaming as an important factor like they did in the 90’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.
