New Mexico has a stormy gambling history. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a compact with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 prominent local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Native gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the Native bands, 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 a deal, therefore denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a hot button matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.