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New Mexico has a rocky gaming background. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to create a contract with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the working group came to an accord with 2 important local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped 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 took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. Ten years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All types of providers look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gambling as a hot button issue like they did in the 90’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.