New Mexico has a stormy gambling history. When the IGRA was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in 1990 to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Native tribes. When the task force arrived at an agreement with 2 prominent local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that American Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the American Indian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. Ten years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has increased from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a hot button factor like they did back in the 90’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.
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