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New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to create an accord with New Mexico Indian bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with two big local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full contract between the State of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo industry has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a key factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.