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New Mexico has a bitter gambling 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 guaranteed that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate an accord with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an agreement with two prominent local bands 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 1995, it appeared that Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Native tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, 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, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game providers brought in only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All types of providers look for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gambling as a hot button factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.