New Mexico has a stormy gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might 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 announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a compact with New Mexico Native tribes. When the working group came to an agreement with 2 prominent local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby denying 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 government, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. 10 years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.

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

Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gambling as an important matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.