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New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed 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 task force in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the working group arrived at an accord with two important local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the Native bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo business has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a piece of the action. With hope, the politicians are through batting over gambling as an important issue like they did back in the 90’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.

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