New Mexico has a complex gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force arrived at an accord with two prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Indian bands, anti-wagering forces were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, therefore denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. 10 years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a key matter like they did in the 1990’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.
