New Mexico has a stormy gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to draft a compact with New Mexico Native tribes. When the working group came to an accord with two important local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the American Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby costing the state 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 legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. Ten years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has grown since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.

Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All types of operators try for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gambling as a key matter like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.