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New Mexico has a bitter gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to create a compact with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the task force came to an accord with two big local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that American Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Native bands, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby denying 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, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gambling as a hot button issue like they did in the 90’s. That’s without doubt wishful thinking.