Mexican casino operator Codere has lost an appeal to open 45 new casinos in Mexico.
The company filed an amparo—a remedy for the protection of their constitutional rights—after being denied the expansion by Mexico’s Interior Ministry. The Eighteenth Collegiate Court on Administrative Matters denied the appeal.
The case dates back to 2007. The company can appeal to the country’s Supreme Court, but local reports say that is unlikely.
According to CDC Gaming Reports, Codere had received several favorable rulings in 11 years of litigation, and argued that SEGOB had to issue the new permit, but the court ruled that the previous rulings were only for the authority to hear the company’s arguments, process their petition and resolve it according to law.
Grupo wanted to open 45 new casinos or betting establishments in Mexico, and appealed the 2012 reforms. But the federal tribunal pointed out that the company had already been granted a number of favorable rulings over more than a decade. Codere now operates 95 gaming and betting properties with 19,600 gaming machines in the country, and recently renewed its racing concession with the Hipódromo de las Américas for 15 years, until 2048.
It seems the new ruling effectively puts a lid on part of the Bolsa Madrid group’s ambitious expansion plans in Latin America, but Games Magazine Brasil reports that the company will continue to be the market leader in Mexico. Codere also operates in Spain, Italy, Argentina, Mexico, Panama, Colombia and Uruguay.
Codere is the market leader in Mexico where it operates more than 19,600 gaming terminals, 95 establishments and 89 betting points, in addition to the activity of the racecourse, which represents 24 percent of the Group’s total turnover.
