New Mexico has a rocky gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed 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 situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to create a contract with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the panel arrived at an agreement with two big local tribes 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 Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that American Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Indian bands, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. 10 years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a key issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.
March 11th, 2018
Nathanial
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