New Mexico has a bitter gaming history. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to create an accord with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the task force came to an agreement with two prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Amerindian tribes, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby 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 house, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All types of providers look for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a hot button factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.
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