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

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in 1990 to draft a contract with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the panel arrived at an accord with two prominent local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that American Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the Native tribes, anti-wagering forces were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game owners acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a piece of the action. With hope, the politicos are through batting over gambling as a hot button matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.