Dirección General de Juegos y Sorteos

With a new framework ahead, Mexico online gambling legislation could finally become clearer for Dirección General de Juegos y Sorteos.

Mexico is the jurisdiction that is watched over by Dirección General de Juegos y Sorteos, which translates as Directorate General of Games and Regulation. Not known for being an active online gambling market, this is mostly due to the legal confusion present in Mexico.

For instance, the Directorate General’s website limits its discussion of gambling legislation to land-based operations. But while online operations appear to have been overlooked, the Directorate has approved licenses in the past for operator’s who partnered with land-based casinos in Mexico. One of the most successful online sites of recent years has been GreenPlay.

New Framework Coming

Although there has been much confusion over acquiring an online license in Mexico, it would appear that the situation is due to improve. Mexican politicians came together in September and November of 2014 to discuss the final drafting of a new legal framework to govern online gambling in Mexico.

Other than restricting gambling to players aged 21 years or older, not a lot of information has been shared from the upcoming framework. Furthermore, it is still not known whether foreign entrants to the market will have to find a domestic operator to partner with, much like the situation in New Jersey.

Roots of the Directorate

The Federal Law of Gaming was introduced in 1947 by president Miguel Alemán Valdés to ensure that gambling be legal, controlled, and responsible. Several years later, a sports betting operator was the first to acquire a license in 1955. Mexico has a long history of gambling that dates back to the 1500s when the Spanish colonised the country.