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New Mexico has a bitter gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to draft a compact with New Mexico Native tribes. When the task force came to an accord with two prominent local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. 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 Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Native tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Indian tribes. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, which includes American Indian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game operators acquired only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gaming as an important issue like they did in the 1990's. That's most likely wishful thinking.