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New Mexico started a very rocky bingo journey. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed in 1989 by Congress, it originally looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get onto the casino bandwagon. However, it wasn’t the case.

In 1990, Bruce King, the New Mexico governor appointed a task force to negotiate a contract with the New Mexico Indian tribes. The governor refused to sign the bargain when the task force came to an agreement with two of the Indian tribes.

A new governor came into play in 1995 and it looked like Indian gambling was finally able to increase. However, when the Governor Gary Johnson signed a contract with the Indians, the anti-gambling forces kept the deal up in courts. But a court found out that the governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the contract, which cost the state millions of dollars in revenue.

Finally, when the Compact Negotiation Act was passed by the New Mexico legislature so the ball could get rolling between the Indians and the New Mexico.

Since 1999, the non-profit bingo industry has grown tremendously. In the same year New Mexico charity game operators only brought in $3 048 in income, which climbed to an astonishing $725 150 in 2000. Then in 2001, it passed a million. The biggest year was 2005 where it brought in $1 233 289 in gross revenue.

Hopefully the politicians are through battling around gambling, but it is becoming increasingly large in New Mexico.