[ English ]

New Mexico has a complex gaming background. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the task force arrived at an agreement with two big local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Native tribes, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Native tribes. Ten years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of owners try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a key matter like they did in the 1990’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.