New Mexico has a rocky gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed 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 appointed a panel in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a compact with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the task force arrived at an agreement with two important local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the Amerindian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. Ten years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gaming as an important matter like they did in the 90’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.
