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New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the panel came to an agreement with 2 big local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the American Indian tribes, anti-wagering forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees 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 Native tribes. 10 years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game owners acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All kinds of providers look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gaming as a hot button issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.