New Mexico has a bitter gambling past. When the IGRA was passed by Congress 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 would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in 1990 to draft an accord with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the panel came to an accord with 2 prominent local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. Ten years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game owners acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting over gambling as an important issue like they did in the 90’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.