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New Mexico has a stormy gaming background. When the IGRA was signed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to draft a compact with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the panel arrived at an accord with two important local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Native wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Indian bands, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus denying the state of New Mexico 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 amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. 10 years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown since 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.

Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicians are through batting around gambling as a hot button issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.