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New Mexico has a bitter gaming history. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in 1990 to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Indian bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with two big local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Native gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Amerindian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the State of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gaming as a key matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.