New Mexico has a bitter gaming background. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to discuss a compact with New Mexico Native tribes. When the working group came to an accord with two important local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Indian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the Indian bands, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. Ten years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicians are through batting around gambling as a key matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.
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