G3-247 Report MEXICO - PART TWO
01 “IGT is proud to introduce our systems and games to Play City Casino. This strategic partnership allows IGT to expand its products throughout one of the leading casino entertainment companies in Mexico while providing unique gaming experiences to their players.”
Dan Mikesell, IGT Regional Vice President of Sales Latin America. 02 “Given the current volume of about 120,000 machines, the potential for 250,000 machines is realistic in this growing market without a doubt. We are certain that we will be successful since we are working with Jose Luis Gonzalez, who has invaluable experience in these markets as a manufacturer and operator.”
Thomas Niehenke, COO, Merkur Gaming.
It is estimated that there are over 70,000 slots operating illegally outside grocery stores, pharmacies, kiosks and shops and that winnings can range from US$4,760 up to US$9,521 in a month.
The casino industry is pretty much under a blanket of corruption and ‘wheeling and dealing’ and it’s difficult to find out exactly who does what.
One operator, Exciting Games (Oaxaca Investments LLC), operates six casinos in Mexico and has become a significant player. It is American owned and runs the largest casino in Mexico City.
It is run by Gordon Burr who claims a rival company started a media hate campaign to say he won last minute favours from the previous government for his operations. In the last administration only four licences were issued to Juegos y Sorteos de Jalisco and Recreativos Marina, Exciting Games and Producciones Moviles.
Exciting Games’ showcase casino is Kash Casino which opened in Naucalpan in 2006 and has 830 slots, sports betting, restaurant and live music. Two more followed in Mexico City and smaller casinos in Villahermosa, Puebla and Cuernavaca.
Other Vegas boys have been ‘spooked’ by stories of cor- ruption and the lack of clear gaming laws.
It is said that Exciting Games was unable to get its own federal gaming permit and did so under another firm. But in January this year the Interior Ministry claims it had detected ‘irregularities’ in the issuing of casino per-
Many US professional poker players cross the border to
gamble in Mexico and Mexicans can also gamble offshore.
mits in 2012 particularly with companies Producciones Moviles and Exciting Games – both former operators of EMEX. These two companies have 47 licences between them to operate sports books and bingo.
The main shareholder of Exciting Games, Alfredo Moreno Quijano, was then arrested for fraud. There is now a legal dispute going on regarding their casino operations, which are still open.
Juan Jose Rojas Cardona (known as Pepe) is the owner of EMEX and he is also known as the ‘Casino Czar’ in Mexico. His brother Arturo is one of the main sharehold- ers of the Casino Royale in Monterrey, which hitmen targeted in 2011. The shooting and arson attack exposed his somewhat dubious past as a Mexican fugitive who fled US drug charges back in 1994.
The attack on Casino Royale in Monterrey in August 2011 left 52 people dead and was apparently orchestrat- ed by drug cartels. After the attack on Casino Royale, revenues dropped by seven per cent between September and December in 2011 at all casinos in Mexico. Some locations were closed for review by the authorities and also the public were afraid to venture
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