New Mexico has a stormy gaming 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 get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to create a compact with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the panel came to an agreement with two big local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the American Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of providers look for a piece of the action. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gaming as an important factor like they did in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.