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New Mexico has a stormy gambling 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 get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Native tribes. When the working group came to an agreement with two big local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that American Indian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees 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 contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. 10 years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo business has grown since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gambling as an important matter like they did in the 1990’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.