Mexican Gaming Association President Miguel Angel Ochoa Sanchez recently noted Mexico has fallen to third place in gaming market size, behind first-place Argentina and Chile. He said, “Mexico occupies third place in Latin America. The most developed is Argentina where gaming has been present for 40 years, but in Mexico, gaming has been present for 10. We have not grown. We had less gambling centers and this has reduced us to third place. Chile grew and we have not. The issue has been to organize growth and to control it better. Now that we are organized it is time to grow.”
Ochoa Sanchez noted over the last six years the licenses of more than 80 gaming rooms have been revoked by the Secretary of Government, Mexico’s Interior Ministry. Specifically, in 2013 more than 400 gaming rooms operated in Mexico; today there are 321.
Speaking at the recent First National Convention of the Gaming Industry in Mexico City, Ochoa Sanchez also urged lawmakers to pass new gaming laws to replace the 1947 Raffles and Gambling Act. Under new rules being considered in the Mexican Senate, slot parlors and sports betting shops found to be violating the conditions of their licenses no longer would be able to rely on stays of closure and protection from local courts. Instead, operators currently holding a license under the terms of the 1947 law would be allowed to operate until their licenses expire, but then would have to reapply for a new license and meet the requirements of the new law.
Ochoa Sanchez said the proposed bill will probably not be passed during the remainder of the six-year presidential term. The next general elections will be held in July 2018.
