New Mexico has a rocky gaming history. When the IGRA was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in Nineteen Ninety to draft an accord with New Mexico Native tribes. When the task force came to an agreement with 2 prominent local tribes 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 Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicos are through batting around gambling as an important factor like they did back in the 90’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.