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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 Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn't be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to discuss an accord with New Mexico Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an agreement with two important local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Amerindian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore denying the government of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.

Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All sorts of providers try for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gaming as a key matter like they did in the 1990's. That's without doubt hopeful thinking.