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New Mexico has a complex gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico Native tribes. When the panel came to an accord with two big local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the American Indian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees 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 compact between the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. Ten years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicians are through batting around gambling as an important issue like they did in the 90’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.