New Mexico has a stormy gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force 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 1994.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Native gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Native tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game owners acquired just $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is clearly popular in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a slice of the action. With hope, the politicos are through batting around gaming as an important factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.