Mexico City proposal would tighten gaming rules, force stronger checks, and ban politically sensitive prediction markets

Mexico City lawmakers have received a draft proposal from Deputy Alberto Martínez Urincho that would tighten player-safety rules around gaming and sweepstakes. For PSPs and operators, the useful part is not the rhetoric; it is the list of controls the draft wants to hard-code into the market.

1. The proposal was tabled in Mexico City, but the regulatory framework for games of chance and sweepstakes is federal law, so any change would first need to pass a Public Administration Commission and then win approval from the Legislative Plenary. That means this is a draft with a legislative path, not an immediate rule change.
2. Urincho said the goal is to treat problem gambling as a public health concern and fold it into Mexico’s broader public health strategy. In practical terms, that is the policy frame behind the rest of the draft: less “consumer choice,” more formal intervention.
3. The measures listed in the draft include prominent warning messages, stricter identity verification controls, age-limit oversight, and restrictions on enticing promotions. For payment providers, the identity-verification piece is the one to watch, because it usually ends up affecting onboarding, KYC (know your customer) flows, and transaction monitoring expectations.
4. The draft also calls for an official ban on predictions tied to political events, global conflicts, humanitarian crises, natural disasters, and other markets that “violate human dignity.” Those categories are most commonly associated with Polymarket-style prediction markets, which are currently operating in a grey area in Mexico.
5. Urincho also pointed to the reach of mobile devices and said gaming and sports betting are available 24/7 in everyday life. He added that advertising on social networks and streaming platforms “sells the fantasy of easy money,” and said the number of under-18s being pulled into problematic dynamics is part of the concern driving the proposal.

He described the issue as “exponential growth of the game in Mexico,” and said the problem is not just leisure or entertainment but a disorder that can lead to compulsive behavior despite serious physical, psychological and social consequences. For operators, that language matters because it shows the direction of travel: more health-style supervision, more promotional scrutiny, and less tolerance for products that look politically sensitive or hard to supervise.