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New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to draft a contract with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force came to an agreement with two big 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 Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Native tribes. Ten years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown since 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since then. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gaming as an important issue like they did in the 90’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.