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New Mexico has a rocky gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to negotiate a contract with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the working group came to an accord with two important local tribes a year later, the Governor 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 seemed that Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the Native bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. Ten years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.

Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All types of owners try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a hot button matter like they did back in the 90’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.