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New Mexico has a stormy gaming background. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the panel arrived at an agreement with 2 big local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Native wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Amerindian tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo business has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.

Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of operators look for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gambling as a key factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.