New Mexico has a complex gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Native bands. When the panel came to an accord with two important local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Native bands, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus costing the government of New Mexico many 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 ball rolling on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gambling as an important factor like they did in the 1990’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.