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New Mexico has a complex gaming past. 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 Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create an accord with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the task force came to an agreement with two big local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

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 groups were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. Ten years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All types of providers look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gaming as an important issue like they did back in the 90’s. That is probably wishful thinking.

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