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New Mexico has a stormy gambling background. When the IGRA was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the panel came to an accord with 2 prominent local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.

Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting around gambling as an important factor like they did in the 90’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.