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New Mexico has a stormy gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to discuss an accord with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the task force came to an accord with two important local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it appeared that Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby costing the government of New Mexico 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 process moving on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gaming as a hot button factor like they did in the 1990’s. That’s most likely hopeful thinking.