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New Mexico has a rocky gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn't be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to create an accord with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the panel came to an accord with two prominent local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

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 passed the compact with the Amerindian bands, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby 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 ball rolling on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. Ten years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.

The non-profit Bingo industry has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game owners brought in only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the owners.

Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of providers look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gambling as an important issue like they did back in the 90's. That's without doubt hopeful thinking.