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New Mexico has a rocky gambling past. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to create a contract with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the panel came to an accord with 2 big local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Indian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the State of New Mexico and its Native tribes. 10 years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting over gambling as an important issue like they did in the 90’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.