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New Mexico has a complex gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force came to an agreement with two prominent local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that American Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Indian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All kinds of providers look for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gaming as an important issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.