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New Mexico has a complex gaming background. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to create a compact with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the panel arrived at an accord with 2 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 over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that American Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Native bands, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo industry has grown since 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All kinds of providers look for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gambling as a hot button matter like they did back in the 90’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.