New Mexico has a complex gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in Nineteen Ninety to draft an accord with New Mexico Indian bands. When the task force came to an accord with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Amerindian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a hot button matter like they did in the 90’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.