New Mexico has a complex gambling background. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to draft a contract with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force arrived at an agreement with two important local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Native bands, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. 10 years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game providers acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gambling as a key matter like they did in the 90’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.