New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to draft a contract with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the panel arrived at an accord with two important local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the Amerindian tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the contract up in 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 required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has grown from 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a slice of the action. With hope, the politicians are through batting around gambling as an important issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.