Zona de Azar Mexico – Mexico: Reform to Federal Gaming Law Regulations is Unconstitutional

Mexico.- July 24, 2024 www.zonadeazar.com Decree attempting to eliminate slot machines in casinos opens the door to card games and roulette.

The federal government’s attempt to gradually eliminate slot machines in casinos is becoming a boomerang and may lead, for the first time, to these establishments offering their customers card games, dice, and roulette, reports the Mexican newspaper Vanguardia.

Federal judge María Isabel Bernal ruled that the reform to the Regulations of the Federal Law of Games and Draws (LFJS), decreed on November 16, 2023, by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, is unconstitutional.

She stated that the Executive could not prohibit slot machines in the permits granted for new casinos or the renewal of existing ones, since the Supreme Court of Justice clarified in 2016 that these machines qualify as “draws of numbers or symbols” that depend on chance and are therefore allowed by the LFJS, which Congress has not reformed since 1947.

But, like her colleague Gabriel Regis, who has already granted several injunctions, Bernal not only ruled against the prohibition of slot machines but also determined that card games and roulette must also be allowed, as they can also be considered as “draws.”

Regis and Bernal handle around 60 lawsuits nationwide filed by casino permit holders and operators, so, initially, all injunctions against the reform will be granted.

“Card games do have the main characteristic of draws, which is that the final result depends on luck and not exclusively on the player’s skill,” Bernal explained.

Regarding dice, the law itself expressly permits them, so the Executive could not prohibit them in the regulation, and the judge noted that cards, roulette, and dice can indeed be authorized by the Ministry of the Interior for regional fairs.

The 2023 reform to the regulation expressly prohibited considering these games as draws.

Editor: @_fonta www.zonadeazar.com