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New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the IGRA was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a contract with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the working group arrived at an agreement with two big local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Amerindian tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has grown since 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game owners acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.

Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting over gambling as a hot button factor like they did in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.