Illegal gambling in Mexico and the payment rails that keep it alive

Mexican states and municipalities have recently carried out raids on venues operating illegal gaming machines, and Miguel Ángel Ochoa Sánchez, head of AIEJA, says that is a necessary first step. For regulated PSPs, the point is simple: if enforcement broadens from physical locations to digital operations, payment processors become one of the few practical choke points.

1. According to Ochoa Sánchez, the recent actions by authorities across different states and municipalities are aimed at establishments running illegal slot machines. He says the scale is still larger than the enforcement response, calling for many more operations to deal with what he describes as a widespread problem.
2. He points back to a January 2016 ruling by Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice, which stated that any gaming machine operating outside a casino recognized by the Secretaría de Gobernación was illegal. In his view, it took about a decade before authorities began to act on that ruling in a visible way.
3. AIEJA’s concern is not just enforcement, but optics: Ochoa Sánchez wants the public to distinguish between clandestine machines in small local shops and the machines used in the formal industry’s 410 authorized casinos. He says those authorized machines are certified and internationally homologated, and are produced by globally recognized companies.
4. He also argues that Mexico’s regulatory framework already makes the distinction clear. The industry is regulated by the Secretaría de Gobernación, which keeps precise records of licensed operators, both land-based and digital. In his words, any gambling space outside those lists is illegal, and the issue is ultimately one of political will.
5. The same problem extends online. Ochoa Sánchez says greater involvement from payment companies could help limit platforms that operate outside Mexico’s legal framework, which is the part PSPs should care about: once the regulator and enforcement bodies decide to tighten the screws, payments are one of the first places they will look.