New Mexico has a bitter gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a contract with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the task force arrived at an agreement with 2 big local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the compact with the Amerindian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has grown since 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gambling as an important factor like they did back in the 90’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.