Operator News
Mexico – Governor of Nuevo León won’t block casino openings
By Phil - 14 August 2017
Jaime Rodríguez Calderón, the Governor of the northern state of Nuevo León, has ruled out the possibility that he could present an initiative that would prevent the opening of more casinos, because “society has the right to have a good time.”
Nearly six years after the fire at Casino Royale in the city of Monterrey, where 52 people were killed, he said that a similar incident could not be repeated: “The past is the past, what we must not commit are the errors of yesterday,” he said.
Calderón was responding to questions regarding statements made recently by the President of the Mexican Gaming Association (AIEJA) Miguel Angel Ochoa who revealed that more casinos could be granted permission to operate in the state, reaching between 35 and 45 or even by as many as 60 by 2020.
“The region is a society that is making advances, an educated society, a society that needs to have fun.” Calderón said. “I am not against society having fun and doing it in a healthy way. I am not against thousands of retirees, who need to go and have fun. As long as the activity is carried out via a public bidding process, is always respectful of the law, we will not be against it.”
In 2016 the mayor of Monterrey Adrián de la Garza Santos told fellow lawmakers that no casino licences had been granted during his term of office. The mayor said that casinos had been blocked from opening during his administration via a specific impediment that allows local authorities to intervene to ensure that they do not open.
Calderón became the first independent candidate to be elected governor of a Mexican state in 2015 and will serve as governor until 2021. Gaming is a particularly sensitive issue in the state due to the Casino Royale tragedy. In 2011 a group of armed men attacked, and then set fire to, the casino, located in an upmarket neighbourhood of the city of Monterrey in the state leaving 52 people dead.
