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New Mexico has a rocky gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico Native bands. When the working group came to an agreement with 2 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 seemed that Native betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Amerindian tribes, anti-wagering forces were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.

Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gaming as a hot button matter like they did in the 1990’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.

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