New Mexico has a rocky gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in 1990 to draft a compact with New Mexico Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an agreement with 2 big local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Native bands, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since then. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gaming as a hot button matter like they did back in the 90’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.