New Mexico has a stormy gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to create a contract with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with 2 prominent local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Native tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game operators acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting around gaming as a hot button issue like they did in the 1990’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.
December 30th, 2022
Callie
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