New Mexico has a complex gaming past. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in Nineteen Ninety to create a compact with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the panel arrived at an agreement with two big local tribes 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 seemed that Native wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Indian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since that time. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All types of owners try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a key matter like they did in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.