New Mexico has a complex gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to draft a compact with New Mexico Native tribes. When the panel arrived at an accord with two prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Indian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus costing the state 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 house, to get the process moving on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. 10 years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game owners brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.

Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All sorts of operators look for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gaming as an important matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.