New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the working group arrived at an agreement with two important local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found 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 required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. 10 years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In 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 one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a key factor like they did in the 90’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.