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New Mexico has a stormy gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in 1990 to draft a compact with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the panel arrived at an agreement with 2 big 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 Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Indian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Amerindian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. 10 years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo business has gotten bigger from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since that time. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gaming as a hot button factor like they did back in the 90's. That's most likely wishful thinking.