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New Mexico has a rocky gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the working group came to an accord with 2 important local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Amerindian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Native bands, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. Ten years had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is categorically favored in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicos are through batting around gambling as a hot button matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.