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New Mexico has a complex gaming past. When the IGRA was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in 1990 to negotiate a contract with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the panel arrived at an agreement with 2 important local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Native bands, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had outstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues 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 compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. Ten years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since then. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting over gaming as a key factor like they did back in the 90’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.