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New Mexico has a bitter gaming background. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to draft an accord with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the panel came to an accord with two prominent local bands a year later, the Governor refused 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 gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Native bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has increased since 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All types of owners try for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a hot button issue like they did in the 90’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.

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