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New Mexico has a complex gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn't be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to draft a contract with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the panel came to an agreement with 2 important local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that American Indian 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 hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including American Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.

Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gaming as an important issue like they did back in the 1990's. That's without doubt wishful thinking.