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

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to draft a contract with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the working group came to an accord with 2 big local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that American Indian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo business has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicos are done batting over gaming as an important issue like they did in the 90’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.