New Mexico has a rocky gambling background. When the IGRA was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in 1990 to draft an accord with New Mexico Native bands. When the panel came to an accord with 2 prominent local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore 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 legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. Ten years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has grown since 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in 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 increased steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.

Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gaming as a hot button matter like they did in the 90’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.