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New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the working group arrived at an agreement with two important local tribes 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 betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the American Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a key issue like they did in the 1990’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.

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