[ English ]

New Mexico has a complex gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a compact with New Mexico Indian bands. When the panel came to an agreement with 2 big local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the American Indian tribes, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicians are through batting around gaming as a key factor like they did in the 90’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.