López Obrador has been adamant throughout his
administration that no more casino licences will be granted under his watch. He has also been highly critical of the role local courts have played in keeping
February 2020, the government of Tampico, a tropical city on the Gulf of Mexico, said that it was looking to introduce casinos in order to bring back tourists.
COLLISION COURSE
Te federal government is now trying to reassert the authority of SEGOB in relation to the way in which gambling is regulated and taxed and has announced that it will not grant any new licences. In January 2020, López Obrador went further and said that the government would obstruct licences that are being granted by local governments in court. A month later the Minister of the Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico, Yasmín Esquivel, put forward a proposal to the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court to rule against an additional tax that states such as Nuevo León, Mexico City and Puebla have imposed on casinos. Te draft ruling of the Minister argues that the Mexican Constitution gives the federal government power to legislate on gambling, since Mexico passed its gaming laws in 1947.
Te Secretary of the Interior, Olga Sánchez Cordero, has also pointed out that the Federal Law of Gaming stipulates that SEGOB is the only
casinos open via stays of closure and has consistently criticised the way licences have been granted by SEGOB under previous administrations
body allowed to grant licences to gambling establishments. “In this term of office there has been no authorisation to open a single casino,” she said, adding that new casinos had only been licensed locally, which was in contravention of federal gaming laws.
López Obrador has been adamant throughout his administration that no more casino licences will be granted under his watch. He has also been highly critical of the role local courts have played in keeping casinos open via stays of closure and has consistently criticised the way licences have been granted by SEGOB under previous administrations. In September, SEGOB announced that it had closed 25 casinos from May 2019 to August 10, 2020 and had not granted permits for the opening of any new gambling establishments.
In the same month, López Obrador asked SEGOB to investigate and, where appropriate, revoke permits granted for the opening of casinos by the former head of Games and
Raffles within SEGOB to previous operators of Casino Royale in the state of Nuevo León.
Battles in court are likely to continue. Tanks to an authorisation obtained by a federal court, long established gambling operator Attractions y Emociones Vallarta S.A. de C.V, was able to assign its 50 licences to four companies to operate betting centres. After the court decision, 19 licences were granted to Latam Operations, 11 for Wadcor, 10 for True Win Group and 10 more for Grupo Blue Bet México. However, SEGOB intervened and requested that the new permit holders comply with federal law and criticised the magistrates who voted in favour of the resolution. All the same, gaming operator Wadcor was still given a licence to open 10 properties and True Win Group was granted a further licence for one property by SEGOB.
In October 2020, López Obrador doubled down on his promise saying in a press conference that he would block these licences granted by a court.
NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA P57
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