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New Mexico has a rocky gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a compact with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 big local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Native gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the American Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore 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 government, to get the process moving on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. Ten years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has grown since 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of providers look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a hot button factor like they did back in the 90’s. That is probably wishful thinking.