New Mexico has a complex gambling background. When the IGRA was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a compact with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the working group arrived at an accord with 2 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 gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Native tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since that time. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gambling as an important factor like they did back in the 90’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.