New Mexico has a complex gambling background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to draft a compact with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force arrived at an agreement with 2 prominent local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Native gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled 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, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. 10 years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is certainly popular in New Mexico. All types of owners look for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a key issue like they did back in the 1990’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.