Mexico: New court ruling declares ban on slots unconstitutional, opens the way to cards and roulette

Federal Judge Maria Isabel Bernal resolved that the reform of the Mexican Government to the Regulation of the Federal Law of Gaming and Sweepstakes (LFJS), decreed in November 2023 and which ordered the prohibition of slot machines, is unconstitutional.

In a ruling similar to that of Justice Gabriel Regis, the judge established that the Mexican Executive cannot prohibit slots in the permits granted for new casinos, as well as in the renewal of the current ones.

Justice Bernal decided this on the basis that the Supreme Court of Justice clarified in 2016 that such machines qualify as "draws of numbers or symbols" that depend on chance and, therefore, are allowed by the LFJS, which Congress has not reformed since 1947.

Likewise, and in the same line as Judge Regis, the new ruling also determined that card games and roulette should be allowed since they can likewise be considered as "draws".

According to the Mexican media La Vanguardia, Regis and Bernal concentrate around 60 lawsuits filed at a national level by casino licensees and their operators so that, in the first instance, all the appeals against the reform will be granted.

"Card games do enjoy the main characteristic of sweepstakes, that is, the final result of the same is entrusted to luck, and not exclusively to the skill of the player," Bernal explained.

In this context, the judge referred to dice and clarified that the law itself explicitly allows them, and therefore the Executive cannot prohibit them in the regulations. She added that card games, roulette, and dice may be authorized by the Ministry of the Interior for regional fairs.