New Mexico has a rocky gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Native bands. When the panel came to an agreement with two prominent local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Amerindian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby denying 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 government, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the State of New Mexico and its American Indian tribes. Ten years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has increased since 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased steadily since then. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a bit of the pie. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gaming as an important matter like they did in the 90’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.