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New Mexico has a bitter gambling past. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in 1990 to create an accord with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the task force came to an accord with two prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Native tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game owners brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gaming as an important issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.
