New Mexico has a complex gaming background. When the IGRA was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to draft an accord with New Mexico Native bands. When the panel came to an agreement with two prominent local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Native tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus denying 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 government, to get the process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. 10 years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has grown since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gaming as an important issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.