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New Mexico has a bitter gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed 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 assured that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the working group arrived at an accord with two big local bands a year later, Governor King 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 gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Native tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. 10 years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo business has grown since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers brought in only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded 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 earned by the owners.

Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All types of operators try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gambling as a key issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.