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New Mexico has a bitter gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in Nineteen Ninety to draft an accord with New Mexico Native tribes. When the working group came to an accord with 2 big local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that American Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the American Indian tribes, anti-gaming 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 compact, therefore denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game providers brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All types of providers look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gambling as an important factor like they did in the 90’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.