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New Mexico has a bitter gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to draft a compact with New Mexico Native bands. When the working group arrived at an agreement with 2 prominent local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that American Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus 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 ball rolling on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

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

Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting over gaming as a key matter like they did in the 90’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.

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