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New Mexico has a stormy gambling background. 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 Indian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to create an accord with New Mexico Native bands. When the working group arrived at an accord with two prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Amerindian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, therefore denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. Ten years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game providers acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All sorts of providers look for a slice of the action. With hope, the politicos are through batting over gaming as a hot button matter like they did in the 90’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.