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New Mexico has a rocky gaming history. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

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

When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues 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 Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo industry has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game providers acquired just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a key issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.