[ English ]

New Mexico has a complex gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the working group arrived at an agreement with two important local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the compact with the Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby costing the government of New Mexico many 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 ball rolling on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gambling as a key matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.