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New Mexico has a bitter gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in Nineteen Ninety to create an accord with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with two prominent local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that American Indian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the American Indian tribes, anti-wagering forces 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 deal, thereby costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. 10 years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.

Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicians are through batting around gaming as an important matter like they did in the 90’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.