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New Mexico has a rocky gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to create a compact with New Mexico Native bands. When the panel 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 office in 1995, it appeared that Native wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the Amerindian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to tie 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 revenues over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has grown from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game operators acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting around gaming as a key factor like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.