New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the task force came to an agreement with two big local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Native tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.

Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All kinds of providers look for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gaming as an important factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.