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New Mexico has a complex gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to discuss a compact with New Mexico Native bands. When the panel came to an agreement with two important local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Native gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby costing 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, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. Ten years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has increased since 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of operators look for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gaming as an important issue like they did back in the 90’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.