New Mexico has a stormy gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in 1990 to draft a contract with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the panel arrived at an agreement with two important local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the American Indian bands, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby costing the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. Ten years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game providers acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gambling as an important matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.