[ English ]

New Mexico has a complex gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act 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 Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to discuss an accord with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with two important local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

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

It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. 10 years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All types of operators try for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gaming as an important matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.