New Mexico has a bitter gaming background. 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 cash in on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the panel arrived at an accord with 2 important local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. 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 wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Indian bands, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby denying the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact between the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. Ten years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since that time. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gaming as a hot button matter like they did in the 90’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.