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New Mexico has a bitter gambling background. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Amerindian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a working group in 1990 to create a compact with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the panel arrived at an accord with 2 important local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Native bands, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor 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 took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico government, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. Ten years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico non-profit game providers brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.

Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of providers try for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gambling as an important matter like they did back in the 1990's. That is most likely wishful thinking.