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New Mexico has a stormy gaming history. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the task force came to an agreement with two big local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that American Indian gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full accord amongst the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. A decade had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All types of owners try for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gambling as a hot button issue like they did in the 90's. That is without doubt wishful thinking.