New Mexico has a rocky gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an agreement with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the American Indian bands, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Native tribes. 10 years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game providers acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of providers look for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a hot button matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.
October 19th, 2015
Francesca
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