New Mexico has a complex gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to discuss an accord with New Mexico Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an agreement with 2 big local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the American Indian bands, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo industry has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gaming as a hot button matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.