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New Mexico has a bitter gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force came to an accord with two big local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Native bands, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby costing 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 State of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been lost for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game owners brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.

Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of operators look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gambling as a hot button issue like they did back in the 90's. That's most likely wishful thinking.