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New Mexico has a stormy gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.

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

When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Native tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus costing the government 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 house, to get the process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. 10 years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown 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 operators try for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gaming as a hot button matter like they did in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.