New Mexico has a bitter gaming background. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Native casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to create a compact with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the panel came to an agreement with two big local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the American Indian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting over gaming as a key issue like they did in the 90’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.