New Mexico has a rocky gambling past. When the IGRA 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 assured that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in Nineteen Ninety to draft a contract with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the working group arrived at an agreement with two prominent local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. 10 years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has increased from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gaming as an important issue like they did in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.