New Mexico has a bitter gaming history. When the IGRA was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the working group came to an agreement with 2 important local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the Native bands, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game owners acquired just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a hot button factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.