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New Mexico has a stormy gaming history. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.

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

When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Amerindian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the compact with the Amerindian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the State of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gambling as a hot button issue like they did in the 90’s. That is probably hopeful thinking.