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New Mexico has a complex gaming past. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Native casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in 1990 to create a contract with New Mexico Indian bands. When the working group came to an accord with 2 big local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Amerindian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Native bands, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo business has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game owners acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gambling as a key issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.