New Mexico has a rocky gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Native tribes. When the panel arrived at an agreement with two important local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Native bands, anti-wagering forces were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore denying the government 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 ball rolling on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has grown since 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a piece of the action. With hope, the politicians are through batting over gaming as a key factor like they did back in the 90’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.
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