[ English ]

New Mexico has a bitter gaming history. 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 bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with two big local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the American Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. 10 years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has grown since 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since that time. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gambling as a key matter like they did in the 90’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.