New Mexico has a bitter gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in Nineteen Ninety to discuss an accord with New Mexico Native tribes. When the panel came to an agreement with two big local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Amerindian bands, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full contract between the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo industry has increased since 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.

Bingo is categorically popular in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gaming as an important issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.