Casino Tricks

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New Mexico has a rocky gambling past. When the IGRA was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to draft an accord with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the panel came to an accord with two prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus denying the government 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 contract between the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased since 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game owners brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gambling as an important issue like they did back in the 90’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.