New Mexico has a stormy gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico Native bands. When the working group arrived at an agreement with two prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Native betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact 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 accord, thus denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown from 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a piece of the action. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gambling as a hot button factor like they did in the 90’s. That is probably wishful thinking.
July 14th, 2022
Tamara
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