[ English ]

New Mexico has a complex gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to draft an accord with New Mexico Indian bands. When the panel arrived at an agreement with 2 big local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a slice of the action. With hope, the politicians are through batting over gambling as a key issue like they did in the 90’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.