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New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to create an accord with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the panel arrived at an agreement with 2 prominent local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the American Indian tribes, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. Ten years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All types of operators try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gaming as an important issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.