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New Mexico has a stormy gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create a compact with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the working group came to an agreement with 2 important local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the American Indian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore costing the state 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 contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has increased from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All types of providers look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gambling as an important issue like they did back in the 90’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.