New Mexico has a bitter gambling past. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to create a compact with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an agreement with two important local bands 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 office in 1995, it appeared that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the American Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. 10 years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.

Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a hot button matter like they did in the 90’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.