New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to create a contract with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force arrived at an accord with two big local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Native gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the contract with the Native bands, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

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

The not for profit Bingo business has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.

Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a hot button matter like they did in the 90’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.