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New Mexico has a complex gaming background. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to draft a contract with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the working group arrived at an agreement with 2 big local tribes 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 American Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the Native bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game owners acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All sorts of providers look for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a key issue like they did back in the 90’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.