Laws seeks to prevent money laundering
A chief goal of Mexico’s new Federal Law of Games of Chance and Draws, which would issue single, 10-year licenses instead of blanket licenses, is to prevent money corruption and underage gambling. Alejandro Moreno Cárdenas, president of the government commission, said, “It will be a transparent and ad-hoc law, and the main goal is to avoid money laundering.”
Noted professional poker player Angel Guillen said regulation is a good thing for the industry and will help it draw major tournaments, thus generating more revenues.
The law could be in force by the first quarter of 2015, said attorney Gerardo Ballesteros Félix-Díaz. The lawyer said that the main modification is the system of substitution of licenses. The aim is to end with the system of multiple licenses that is in force at present.
Jesús Fernando Rodríguez, former technical secretary of the casino commission, told Yogonet that in the past, several licenses were granted. “It means that licenses to operate 10, 45 or 60 gambling venues were granted. Now, there will be just one casino per license. Those operators with licenses to operate 60 casinos must now have 60 licenses: one per each casino.”
The job of policing casinos will fall to the National Institute of Games and Draws, which will have to verify that online casinos are nontransferable and operated just by the licensee “forbidding any transference, leasing or cession to a third party.”
