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New Mexico has a stormy gambling background. When the IGRA was signed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to create an accord with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the panel arrived at an accord with two big local bands 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 American Indian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the American Indian tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has grown from 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a hot button issue like they did in the 1990’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.