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New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in 1990 to create a contract with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the working group came to an agreement with two important local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Native tribes, anti-wagering 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 hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a key matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.

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