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New Mexico has a complex gaming history. When the IGRA was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to draft a compact with New Mexico Native tribes. When the task force came to an accord with two important local tribes 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 appeared that Native betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the American Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore denying the government 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 legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown since 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a slice of the action. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gaming as an important matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.