[ English ]

New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in Nineteen Ninety to create an accord with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the panel arrived at an agreement with two big 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 Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the American Indian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the State of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo industry has grown since 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game owners acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a piece of the action. With hope, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a key factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.