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New Mexico has a rocky gaming history. When the IGRA 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 Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to discuss an accord with New Mexico Native tribes. When the task force arrived at an agreement with 2 prominent local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the American Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. 10 years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.

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