Gambling was illegal in Mexico until, in 1947, the federal law on gambling and raffles was passed. At its core,it still remains the same to this day, but – especially of late with the boom in online casinos – it has undergone some changes.
The law legalized gambling and gaming but made it clear that establishments needed government approval. It also states that continuous supervision by federal legal agencies must take place.
With the modernization of the way in which we bet, including the online boom, sport betting laws were also adapted to the modern day. Up until 2014, you could bet online since there were no mentions of it in the constitution, making it a loophole in the law. It was allowed, yet it still needed to be normalized.
Betting had already been legal for a long time, but that particular year, a regularization of how much tax websites operating in Mexico should pay was put into place, which issued licenses to online establishments, among other additions to the law.
Those procedures were – and are still to this day – done by the SEGOB (Secretaria de Gobernácion). This agency takes care of Mexico’s internal politics and ensures the constitution is tightly enforced. They have a special division called DGJyS (Dirección General de Juegos y Sorteos) which works with gambling and raffles.
It is their work to follow legislation, issue licenses, supervise, investigate complaints and apply sanctions, among other things. To know if a place – physical or online – is regulated by the DGJyS, you should look for the SEGOB seal, the license number and the specifications of what services they are allowed to offer. All of this encompasses multiple categories of gambling, which is why sport betting is legal.
The changes also brought more concern regarding bringing more security and rights to people who use these services. The law formalized several benefits, including that it should be possible to make all the payments in Mexican Pesos. This is an interesting one since, as we highlighted, a simple payment system is something many people value. In this same context, partnerships were permitted to take place between bookmakers and banks to facilitate deposits.
SEGOB also created a direct line where users could denounce irregularities and any problems they had in this regard. But there were also some additional duties to carry out. Establishments must pay 30% of any profit in taxes, and users have to pay their way too. Most Mexicans agree with legal betting, and one vastly-quoted reason for this is that it could lead to economic growth, making it fair since a part of the revenue goes back into the country. In cases of victory, 21% of user profits must be paid as taxes.
