New Mexico has a rocky gambling background. 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 get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a contract with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 big local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the compact with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. Ten years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has increased from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game owners acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicians are through batting around gambling as a hot button issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.