New Mexico has a bitter gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in 1990 to discuss a contract with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the panel arrived at an agreement with 2 big local tribes 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 over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Indian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo business has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game owners acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.

Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gambling as a hot button matter like they did back in the 90’s. That is probably wishful thinking.