New Mexico has a complex 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 cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with 2 prominent local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the American Indian bands, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game providers acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting over gambling as an important issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.