[ English ]

New Mexico has a rocky gaming background. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a contract with New Mexico Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an agreement with 2 big local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Native betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the State of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a slice of the action. With hope, the politicians are through batting over gambling as a hot button factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.