The Mexican online gaming sector is expected to skyrocket by 70 percent in the next three years due to the reforms to the Regulation of the Federal Law of Gaming and Sweepstakes that went live last November, Yogonet reported February 29.
Brick-and-mortar casinos, by contrast, are facing lean years, especially because no new slot machine permits will be issued or renewed for the 429 casinos that operate more than 100,000 machines in the federal republic.
In addition, the term of land-based slot permits has been reduced from 25 years to 15 years. This is expected to cause the land-based sector to plummet by 90 percent in its ability to generate money, the Association of Permission Holders, Operators and Suppliers of the Entertainment and Gaming Industry (Aieja) estimates.
Experts in the sector speculate that these restrictions will drive players online, with the resulting projection of a 70 percent increase by 2027.
That would be 39 percent higher for the sector than what had been projected last year, which was estimated to be $4,063 million. Before the reforms were announced the online sector had been projected to be $3,490 million by 2027.
Other factors that have also contributed to the online sector are accessibility, the variety of games, growth after the restrictions of the pandemic were lifted, and the growth of technology. In addition, transactions online are becoming more reliable, faster and online casinos offer more privacy than the land-based variety, Yogonet wrote.
