[ English ]

New Mexico has a stormy gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the panel arrived at an accord with 2 important local bands 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 Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the American Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore denying the government 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 Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. Ten years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting over gambling as a key issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.