[ English ]

New Mexico has a rocky gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico Indian bands. When the task force came to an accord with two prominent local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Amerindian bands, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo business has increased from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.

Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gaming as a hot button matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.