New Mexico has a bitter gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with 2 big local tribes a year later, the Governor declined 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 Indian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gaming forces 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 deal, therefore denying 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 house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All types of owners look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gaming as a key factor like they did back in the 90’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.