New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the working group arrived at an accord with 2 prominent local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that American Indian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Native tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown from 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gaming as a hot button matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.