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New Mexico has a stormy gaming background. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would 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 panel in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Native bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with two big local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Native tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson 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, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has increased since 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game owners acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since that time. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gambling as a key factor like they did back in the 90’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.