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New Mexico has a bitter gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act 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 craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the working group came to an accord with 2 prominent local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Native gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Indian bands, anti-wagering forces were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gaming as a key factor like they did back in the 90’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.

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