Mexico Gambling Reform Nears Cabinet Review Before Congress

Mexico’s law generally prohibits gambling and betting while giving the Interior Ministry authority to permit and supervise eligible establishments. Its age and structure have fuelled debate over whether it can govern today’s mix of land-based casinos, online betting, digital payments and cross-border services.

The reform process follows other attempts to address gaps without waiting for a replacement of the law. One 2026 initiative included proposals to restrict gambling advertising to late-night hours, focusing on minors’ exposure and the visibility of betting promotions around sport. That measure illustrates how consumer protection questions are already reaching lawmakers while the broader framework remains under review.

The scale of activity outside regulated channels is another concern for policymakers. An industry analysis estimated that unregulated operators captured 69% of World Cup online betting. Although that figure is not specific to Mexico, it indicates the enforcement and channelisation challenges facing countries seeking to direct betting towards supervised operators.

Rodríguez described the proposal as a cross-government review involving departments responsible for casinos, betting establishments and entertainment centres. Rodríguez said,

The internal review with the different government agencies is almost complete.

She also linked the government’s approach to enforcement and integrity. She said operators had previously been warned against attempting to corrupt ministry personnel and that officials involved in wrongdoing could face imprisonment. In return, the ministry would work through outstanding regulatory procedures.

The secretary reported that sanctions and closures had affected establishments allegedly connected with money laundering and tax fraud. These actions involved cooperation between the Interior Ministry, the Attorney General’s Office and the Finance Ministry’s Financial Intelligence Unit.

A public figure of 13 casinos has been associated with those actions, while Rodríguez estimated that approximately 20 establishments may have faced problems. She did not provide a definitive total. The distinction should be retained because the wider number was presented as an estimate rather than a confirmed enforcement count.

These remarks suggest that institutional oversight, corruption prevention and financial transparency are central to the government’s policy discussion. The unpublished draft may address some of these areas, but its precise scope cannot be confirmed until an official text is released.

Any modernised framework will also be judged on how clearly it allocates responsibilities between operators, regulators and law-enforcement bodies. Internationally, risk-based gambling supervision increasingly focuses resources on customers, transactions, products and operating channels that present greater exposure to financial crime.

For Mexican operators, the questions will concern licensing, recordkeeping, customer checks, beneficial ownership, reporting duties and the treatment of higher-risk transactions. Whether these requirements appear in the gambling bill itself, separate regulations or existing financial-crime rules remains unknown.

The next development will therefore be either confirmation that the security cabinet has completed its review or the formal submission of a bill to Congress. Until then, at this preliminary policy stage, the proposal should be described as a government reform under internal review—not an approved law or a completed legislative overhaul.