New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. 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 Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to draft a contract with New Mexico Native tribes. When the task force arrived at an agreement with two important local bands 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 Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Native bands, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting around gaming as a key issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.