New Mexico has a stormy gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in 1990 to discuss a compact with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force came to an accord with two prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Indian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. 10 years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has grown since 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.

Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a piece of the pie. With hope, the politicians are through batting around gambling as a hot button matter like they did back in the 90’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.