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New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a compact with New Mexico Indian bands. When the task force came to an accord with two prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.

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 passed the contract with the American Indian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. Ten years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game providers acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All kinds of providers look for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gaming as a key issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.

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