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New Mexico has a stormy gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a compact with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force arrived at an agreement with two big local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Native gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped 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 required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown 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 operators look for a slice of the action. With hope, the politicians are done batting around gambling as an important issue like they did back in the 90’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.