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New Mexico has a complex gaming history. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to draft a contract with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the panel arrived at an agreement with two big local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Native gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the Indian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore denying the state 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 contract between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. Ten years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.

Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gambling as a key factor like they did in the 90’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.