Legislation
Mexico – Lawmakers emphasise commitment to Mexican gaming law
By Phil - 10 March 2014
Mexico’s Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong and Ricardo Mejía Berdeja head of a committee charged with investigating the gaming industry have both restated their commitment to work together to draft a new gaming law.
In a statement released to press Osorio Chong stated that in order to accelerate the process both he and Mejía Berdeja have met to discuss the formation of a working group which will be instrumental in advancing the development of a new legal framework for the law. The group will be made of the Assistant Secretary for Legislative Liaison and Political Agreements, Felipe Solís Acero, the director general of Gaming and Raffles Marcela Gonzalez Salas as well as the head of its legal department David Arellano Cuán. Members of the board of the committee currently charged with looking into the industry will also be present during the drafting of a new law as well as deputies José Arturo Salinas Garza and Agustín Barrios Gómez Segués.
All are agreed that new gaming legislation in Mexico is a matter of increasing urgency and legislation should be modern, with clear and transparent rules in line with the current needs of the market.
In August 2013 Angel Osorio Chong announced that he and SEGOB would work closely with the special investigative committee to analyse possible changes to Mexico’s gaming laws. In addition members of one of the most important political parties in Mexico the PRI party (The Institutional Revolutionary Party) are now planning to introduce new legislation which would do away with Mexico’s out-dated gaming laws. This was after a meeting between members of SEGOB and senators from the PRI party.
In February this year Osorio Chong reiterated his commitment to new legislation once again when he told press that there were no longer any casinos operating outside the terms of their licenses and that Mexico would soon pass a new gaming act which would allow for much further control and transparency when it comes to gaming.
Casinos were first prohibited by President Lazaro Cardenas in 1936 and then along with most other types of gaming (except lotteries and bingos) were permanently banned in the Betting and Raffles Law of 1947. Since then there have been numerous attempts to overturn the act. While impetus is growing to change Mexico’s gaming laws, many efforts to do so have failed in the past and often at the very last hurdle. Only time will tell if this new impetus will prove differently.
