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New Mexico has a rocky gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in Nineteen Ninety to discuss an accord with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with two big local tribes 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 seemed that Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the Amerindian tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. 10 years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a piece of the action. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gaming as a key factor like they did back in the 90’s. That is probably wishful thinking.