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New Mexico has a complex gambling history. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the working group came to an accord with 2 prominent local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the American Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of operators look for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting over gaming as an important factor like they did in the 90’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.