New Mexico has a bitter gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to create a compact with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the panel came to an accord with two important local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators 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 earnings have increased steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All types of owners look for a piece of the action. With hope, the politicians are through batting around gambling as a hot button matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.