New Mexico has a complex gambling history. 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 cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in 1990 to create a compact with New Mexico Native bands. When the panel arrived at an agreement with 2 important local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Native tribes, anti-wagering forces were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby costing 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 compact between the Government 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 industry has grown since 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game providers acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gaming as an important factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.