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New Mexico has a stormy gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to discuss an accord with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the task force arrived at an accord with two prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Native betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the American Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore denying 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 house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game operators acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.

Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All types of providers look for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gaming as a hot button factor like they did in the 90’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.

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