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New Mexico has a rocky gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Native casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a compact with New Mexico Native bands. When the panel came to an accord with 2 prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Native bands, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the 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 CNA, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. 10 years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has grown since 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since then. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gambling as an important issue like they did back in the 90’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.