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New Mexico has a bitter gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to discuss a compact with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the working group came to an accord with two prominent local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Native bands, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, therefore costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded 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 beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a piece of the action. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a hot button factor like they did back in the 90’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.