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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 might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in Nineteen Ninety to draft an accord with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the working group arrived at an agreement with two big local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the Native tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, therefore 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 accord between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has grown since 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All types of owners look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a hot button matter like they did back in the 90's. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.