Mexican gaming association says 150 global businessmen want to invest in country's gaming and betting sector

Miguel Ángel Ochoa, president of the Association of the Entertainment and Gaming Industry (AIEJA), revealed that there is a high interest from businessmen from all over the world in investing in the gaming, betting, and online and physical casinos industry in Mexico.

In dialogue with Forbes Mexico, he said that businessmen from Costa Rica, Panama, the United States, Canada, France, Italy, Austria, and Denmark showed interest in the local market. "I believe that this number could easily be between 100 and 150 investors from all over the world, who want to invest in Mexico", he said.

"I met with Austrian and Danish (investors) because there is a lot of interest in investing in Mexico (in online gaming and betting)," said the casino industry representative and pointed out that this will not move forward as long as there isn't a legally established market in Mexico.

"I spoke with some Hungarians in November 2023 in Miami, Florida, who wanted to invest in Mexico, so I recommended the amparo and they said: How are we going to sue the Mexican government? We have not yet entered and we are suing," the businessman said.

In this sense, he explained that foreign businessmen "do not know the legal reality of Mexico", and added: "The amparo is the legal defense that individuals have against abuses by the authorities, which is precisely the case. And that is why it is hard to convince them, they do not take risks".

Investors see the Mexican market as the anteroom to the United States, Ochoa pointed out, because 75% of the population living in South America, Central America, and Mexico do not travel to gambling centers because they do not have a US visa. In addition, Mexico's weather conditions are more favorable.

Amparos

On November 16, 2023, Mexico's Ministry of the Interior (Segob) published a modification to the regulation of the Gaming and Sweepstakes Law in Mexico, which contemplates that the federal government will no longer grant new permits for the opening of establishments with slot machines, while the current ones will be respected until their expiration, but will no longer be renewed.

The Gaming and Sweepstakes Law dates back to 1947 and has not been modified nor has it undergone any reform in its 76 years of existence. "That law, which has not undergone modifications in its 17 articles, does not consider anything of what there is today, since there were no machines, there were no live gaming tables, there was no Internet, there were no computers and there were no cell phones. Obviously, that law is obsolete, but it is the one that is in force today", Ochoa explained.

"Until today, no final injunction has been achieved yet, because it usually takes three months and in some cases, it can take up to a year (to achieve it)", said the President of AIEJA.

The 37 gaming, sweepstakes, betting, and casino licensees filed an injunction against the decree published by the Ministry of the Interior: "I dare to think that the great majority of them, that is, 35, have already obtained the provisional suspension and maybe half of the definitive suspension".

"I am waiting for all the remaining definitive suspensions to be obtained this month. Then, yes, we will focus on the final process of the amparo, which in the best of cases we would have a resolution for March and April and in the worst of cases until November and December 2024", he pointed out.

The suspensions obtained by the permit holders allow them to return to the state in which the casino business was before the publication of the decree by the Ministry of the Interior, he added.

"In this way, the permit holders (with the definitive and provisional injunction) can continue importing machines, offering services (gaming, sweepstakes, and betting) to the clientele, and continue doing everything that has happened prior to the publication of the Segob's decree," he concluded.

In an exclusive interview with Yogonet last December, Miguel Ángel Ochoa highlighted that it was a good year for the Mexican industry, with a 'sustained growth trend'. In addition, he had stated that the expectation for 2024 is, although this new regulation is in force, 'to continue operating normally, attending our clients punctually since the recent modifications stipulate that acquired rights will be respected. That is to say, all those who were operating to date, who had machines, who had live gaming tables, will continue to do so with total normality. And this will allow us to grow.