New Mexico has a rocky gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in 1990 to draft a compact with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force came to an accord with two prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Indian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Indian tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo business has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gambling as a hot button matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.