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New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the IGRA was signed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn't be the situation.

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

When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that American Indian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Native tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thus denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

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

The non-profit Bingo business has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have increased steadily since that time. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is certainly beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gambling as a hot button issue like they did back in the 1990's. That is probably wishful thinking.