New Mexico has a complex gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico Native tribes. When the working group arrived at an accord with two big local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Native tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus costing the state of New Mexico 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 contract between the State of New Mexico and its Native tribes. Ten years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gaming as a key factor like they did in the 1990’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.