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

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a compact with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the working group arrived at an agreement with two important local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Native gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gambling as a hot button factor like they did in the 90’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.