Mexican Slots

The special committee of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies that is responsible for compliance verification of gaming permits issued by the Secretariat of Government, will issue notices to appear to officials of the Secretariats of Government, and Economy, and official from those ministries will be asked to explain the proliferation of slot machines in Mexico. During a meeting of the special legislative committee, chairman Héctor Gutiérrez de la Garza (PRI, Nuevo León) said that by definition the Regulation of the Federal Gaming and Raffles Law differentiates “games of skill” from those of chance. Yet devices have been installed in these machines to make them appear like games of skill, when in reality they are programmed.

Gutiérrez said that the constitutionality of the aforementioned regulation is currently being challenged before the Court. “The hold on the opening of new books and bingo (parlors) approved by Santiago Creel has not helped at all, because at the same time, in parallel, we have a proliferation of these machines,” he added. Saying that the excuse for not opening casinos in Mexico has been risks of money laundering and compulsive gambling, Gutiérrez called it absurd that on one hand casinos are not allowed, while “through the backdoor these (slot machines) are allowed with legaloid excuses, defeating the law itself or the regulation, and this could even be a concubinage with the same authority.” In this sense, he said that the corruption began with the issuance of the regulation itself, from the moment of inconsistency between the games of skill and games of chance, since with respect to slot machines it opened the door for their installation in Mexico.