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New Mexico has a bitter gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to discuss a compact with New Mexico Native tribes. When the panel arrived at an accord with 2 big local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Native bands, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo industry has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All types of operators try for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gambling as an important matter like they did back in the 90’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.