G3-247 Report MEXICO - PART TWO 06 OPERATOR PROFILE: CALIENTE
Caliente is Mexico’s largest sports betting company and is owned by Jorge Hank Rhon who from 2004 to February 2007 was mayor of Tijuana. As well as being present in Mexico Caliente also operates in more than a dozen countries in central and South America as well as Europe. Caliente started operations with a horseracing track in 1916 and since 1950 has also operated a greyhound track, with daily racing all year round.
From 1998 onwards Caliente began to diversify the games on offer at its gaming establishments due to its alliance with Codere. In its first stage it introduced traditional bingo to its gaming centres and then shortly afterwards began to offer slot machines on its premise. The Agua Caliente horse racing track, which is located in the city of Tijuana, now houses more slot machines than in any other venue in Mexico with more than 900 slot machines on site.
In 2001 Caliente was granted a licence to offers online sports betting and will soon offer online casino games. There are around fifty Caliente sports betting shops in Mexico which go under the name Caliente Race & Sports Books
over it this year’s ELA trade show (normally held in May) was postponed. Of course, it doesn’t help that the two major associations APJSAC and AIEJA continue to feud, whilst the APJSAC refused to attend last year’s ELA event.
The Asociacion de Permisionarios de Juegos y Sorteos (Association of Games and Raffles) APJSAC was found- ed in 2007 by several companies in Mexico including the Grupo Caliente, CIE, Promojuegos (Codere) and Promociones e Iversiones de Guerrero (CIRSA). Meanwhile, the Asociaction de Permisionarios y Proveedores de la Industria del Entretenimiento y Juego de Apuesta en Mexico (AIEJA) is a civil association for operators, suppliers and licensees in the sector.
Casino operators in the Mexico gaming sector include:
• The Caliente Casino inside the Tijuana race track. Agua Caliente recently underwent a $26m upgrade and the venue includes racing, sports books, gaming halls and electronic bingo betting terminals. The Caliente Casino covers 228,000sq.ft and is the largest casino in Mexico.
• Hollywood Casino Entertainment opened in January 2009 in Estanzuela in the city of Monterrey. There are more than 400 slot machines, live shows and promotions and restaurants.
• Casino Revolucion is located in Monterrey in Nuevo Leon and has 90 themed slots, bingo area and sports book, two restaurants.
• PringSA is the Mexican arm for Cirsa which operates CasinoLife betting centres and bingo parlours in Mexico. The company has 36 gaming licences and currently operates four casinos – Del Valle, Celava, Hidalgo and Merida. All offer sports books, bingo and slots. There are approximately 12,000 machines per gaming halls with electronic bingo, video slots, reels and multi players operating from 5c.
• Dubain Palace is located in Cancun and is 65,000 sq.ft in size with 400 slots. The venue offers live entertainment three nights a week.
• The Royal Yak Casino is also located in Cancun with 350 electronic slots in four different rooms, restau- rants and 110 seater Sports Book area with 35 HD/TVs and a 400 seat bingo arena.
• Casino Palace is in Cancun and offers 200 slots and restaurants.
• In December last year the new Atlantic Casino opened in Boca del Rio in Veracruz by the TTH Gaming and Consultancy group who have been in the Mexican market since 2010. The casino is located within the Hotel Lois and includes 350 slots, sports book wagering and sports bar. This is the eighth casi- no for TTH Gaming with others in Monterrey, Queretaro, Guadalupe, Guanajuato, Irapuato, Leon and San Luis Potosi with a total of 2,000 slots in operation. TTH (Tomas Tapies Harrison Gaming) is a casino operator and has been involved with locations in Los Angeles, Panama and Spain including the Casino Revolucion in Monterrey, Sabia Corporation and Steel Gaming.
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