New Mexico has a stormy gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in 1990 to draft an accord with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the working group came to an accord with two prominent local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Native gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the American Indian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the contract 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 required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full accord between the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.

Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of providers look for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicians are done batting over gambling as an important issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.