www.euroslot-online.com However, even if the crossover has turned many amusement


halls into casinos, the time is near for the new casinos to offer family entertainment facilities, as more ambitious operators seek to replicate entertainment offers available in other countries, especially the U.S.


Economic background With 20 percent of high earners making in excess of


$60,000, and a privileged ten percent on $150,000, Mexico is indeed one of the new El Dorados. Growth for 2011 is anticipated to reach four percent, and the economy is the 13th largest in the world.


In Latin America it is the second-largest economy after Brazil.


However, unlike Brazil, Mexico was one of the Latin American nations most affected by the 2008 recession, with GDP contracting by more than six percent, mainly because of its close ties with the U.S. and Canada through the North American Free Trade Agreement. Yet it is recovering well, and according to Goldman Sachs, by 2050 Mexico will have the fifth-largest economy in the world. As for tourist and entertainment industries, Mexico was the


tenth-most-visited country in the world in 2007 with 21.4m international arrivals not only seeking the attractions of iconic sites such as the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon in Mexico City, or the beaches of Cancun in the southeast, but also the many casinos in Monterrey, Guadalajara, Acapulco, and so on.


Manufacturing It has been well reported that crude amusement coin-op machines have been widely assembled in Mexico for the corner-


MEXICO MARKET REPORT


store business, but less well-known is the fact that the electronics industry of Mexico has grown enormously within the last decade. In 2007 Mexico surpassed South Korea as the second largest manufacturer of televisions, and in 2008 it moved ahead of China, South Korea and Taiwan to become the largest producer of smartphones in the world. The country has more than half a million students on


electronics engineering programmes, with more than 90,000 graduating each year. According to the World Bank, Mexico has more than 580,000 certified IT professionals, and in 2007 high- tech industrial production represented just under 20 percent of the country’s economy. Mexico is also home to a large number of electronics ODM and OEM firms which manufacture or design products on behalf of another company. For example, Lanix, Mexico’s largest electronics company, builds the PlayStation 3 for Sony.


New operators The country has also been the regional leader in broadcasting,


television and cinema for more than a century. Televisa – the largest media company in the Spanish-speaking world – was granted permits to operate casino-type amusement salons in 2005, and currently is expanding its brand under the name Play City.


Also on the receiving end of SEGOB permits was Corporacion


Internacional de Entretenimiento (CIE), which operates amusement parks – but this has not deterred other local and foreign entrepreneurs from jumping into the gaming and amusement arena to claim a piece of El Dorado in 21st-century Mexico.


SEPTEMBER 2011


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