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New Mexico has a bitter gambling history. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the task force came to an accord with 2 big local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Native gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Amerindian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore costing 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 Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has increased since 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.

Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gambling as an important issue like they did back in the 90’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.