New Mexico has a bitter gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act 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 bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to create a compact with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the panel arrived at an agreement with two important local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. 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 passed the contract with the Amerindian tribes, anti-wagering forces were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore denying the government of New Mexico many 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 ball rolling on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game owners brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting over gambling as a key issue like they did in the 90’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.