New Mexico has a stormy gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to create an accord with New Mexico Native tribes. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the American Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus costing the government of New Mexico 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 contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. 10 years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a key issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.