Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador has forbidden new casinos in the country, and said if local governments who defy the federal government will end up before the Supreme Court.
At a January 7 press conference, the president said no casino licenses will be granted as long as he is in office (his six-year term ends in 2024).
“If it is up to the federal government, we won’t allow for new casinos,” he said. “We still remember what happened when the so-called Gobierno del Cambio (government of change) began authorizing casino openings and we will not fall for the same thing. It would be shameful to do the same.”
According to Games Magazine Brasil, this is the first time the president has announced legal measures against the granting of any new licenses.” The announcement is likely to bring state and federal governments on a collision course over gambling,” the magazine stated.
Olga Sánchez Cordero, head of the Mexican Secretariat for Home Affairs (SEGOB), “Permits can only be granted on a federal level and no authorizations have been issued in the last six years.”
President López Obrador said that if local governments enact legislation that challenges the authority of the federal government, they will have to go to the Supreme Court. “No casinos in this country. Citizens wanted a change,” he concluded.
