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New Mexico has a complex gaming history. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the panel arrived at an accord with two big local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He would hold 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 compact with the Native tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, therefore denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a key matter like they did in the 90’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.