New Mexico has a complex gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create a compact with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the task force came to an accord with 2 important local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Native bands, anti-wagering forces were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus 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, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has grown from 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All types of providers look for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gaming as a hot button matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.
