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New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to discuss a compact with New Mexico Native bands. When the working group came to an accord with two important local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby denying the government 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 accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. 10 years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico non-profit game owners acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gambling as an important factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.