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New Mexico has a rocky gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to discuss a contract with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the panel came to an agreement 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 Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore denying the government 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 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 lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game owners brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew 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 largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a key matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.

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