New Mexico has a stormy gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to create a compact with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the task force arrived at an agreement with 2 big local bands 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 Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Native bands, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game operators acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a hot button matter like they did back in the 90’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.