New Mexico has a rocky gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to create an accord with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the working group came to an agreement with 2 prominent local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that American Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the Native tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gambling as an important issue like they did back in the 90’s. That is probably wishful thinking.