New Mexico has a complex gambling past. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the working group came to an accord with 2 big local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the American Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has grown since 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers brought in only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gambling as an important factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.
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