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New Mexico has a stormy gaming background. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in 1990 to discuss an accord with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the panel arrived at an accord with 2 important local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game providers brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gaming as a hot button factor like they did in the 90’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.

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