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New Mexico has a stormy gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in 1990 to draft a compact with New Mexico Indian bands. When the working group came to an agreement with two big local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Native bands, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All types of owners look for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicians are done batting around gambling as a key issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.
