New Mexico has a bitter gaming past. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Native casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Native tribes. When the panel came to an agreement with two prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that American Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the American Indian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired only $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 increased steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All kinds of owners try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gambling as a hot button issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.