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New Mexico has a complex gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a compact with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force came to an agreement with 2 big local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Amerindian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Amerindian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the State of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The not for profit Bingo business has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.

Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of owners look for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gambling as an important issue like they did back in the 90's. That's most likely hopeful thinking.