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New Mexico has a stormy gaming history. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to draft an accord with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 important local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling groups 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, therefore denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. Ten years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has increased from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of providers look for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting over gaming as a key issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.

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