New Mexico has a bitter gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Native casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to draft a contract with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that American Indian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All kinds of providers look for a piece of the action. With hope, the politicians are through batting over gambling as a key matter like they did in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.