New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the IGRA was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to discuss an accord with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the panel arrived at an accord with 2 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 over in 1995, it appeared that Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. 10 years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game providers brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a piece of the action. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gaming as a key issue like they did back in the 90’s. That is probably wishful thinking.
