Senator José Maria Martinez, president of the Mexican Senate’s Board of Directors, has told the World Casino Directory’s news service that due to lack of government oversight, more than a third of the 100,000 machines installed in the country’s casinos are uncertified or have been tampered with.
Martinez is currently trying to expedite reform of the 1947 Raffles and Gambling Act.
“The legal vacuums that persist make it difficult to regulate this activity, while the number of bookmakers, games and raffles continues to grow with electronic scrap or uncertified machines,” he told the publication, adding that at least four attempts have been made to strengthen Mexico’s gaming laws to provide more government supervision over the gaming industry.
Martinez reported that there are currently 434 casinos in operation out of a total of 789 licenses granted so far, and more than half of those casinos “were operating on the margins of the law via legal protection granted to them by local courts, and as a result had not been properly certified,” according to World Casino Directory.
Gaming reform is now under consideration in the Mexican Senate.
