[ English ]

New Mexico has a bitter gambling history. When the IGRA was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the working group came to an accord with 2 prominent local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the American Indian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. Ten years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a key matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.