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New Mexico has a bitter gambling history. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in 1990 to draft an accord with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the task force arrived at an accord with two important local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Native tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took 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 Native bands. 10 years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All types of owners try for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gambling as an important matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.