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New Mexico has a rocky gambling past. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn't be the situation.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Native bands. When the working group came to an accord with two important local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Indian bands, anti-wagering forces were able to hold the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thereby denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.

It required the CNA, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. 10 years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo industry has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.

Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All sorts of providers look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gambling as an important matter like they did back in the 1990's. That is probably hopeful thinking.