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New Mexico has a complex gaming history. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in 1990 to negotiate a compact with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the working group arrived at an agreement with two big local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Native tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.

Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a key matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.