With long-awaited reforms to Mexico’s gambling regulatory framework still pending, industry stakeholders are urging authorities to accelerate progress and provide long-overdue clarity.
Mexico’s gambling sector is largely regulated by laws that are nearly 80 years old, though changes to the regulation had been expected this year.
But with time running out until the 2026 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Mexico, it seems highly unlikely an updated regulatory framework will be in place by the time it kicks off in June.
Miguel Ángel Ochoa Sánchez, president of the Mexican Association for Permit Holders, Operators and Suppliers of the Entertainment and Gambling Industry (AIEJA), says the market is currently “insufficiently regulated”, especially in regards to the online sector.
Ochoa and the AIEJA had hoped an updated framework would be submitted to the legislature during its first session of 2026, which ends on 30 April, but he believes other issues have been prioritised.
When asked in a recent interview when exactly the updated regulation would arrive, Ochoa tells iGB: “It’s a question we’re all asking ourselves. In December 2024, President Sheinbaum publicly announced the need for a new Federal Law on Games and Raffles and tasked the Ministry of the Interior, as the regulatory body, with drafting a proposed bill to be submitted to the legislature for review.
“During the first quarter of 2025, the Ministry promoted working groups and invited the entire gaming sector to participate in these thematic panels to enrich the proposal. And since then, nothing. We’re still waiting, without even knowing the supposedly final version of the bill.”
Ochoa Sánchez suggests the sector has been left in limbo.
Outdated regulations holding back growth in Mexico
H2 Gambling Capital Managing Director Ed Birkin warns the lack of “formal, up-to-date regulation” is resulting in less capital being invested into the market, despite its huge potential.
Alfredo Lazcano and Andrea Avedillo Builla of Mexican law firm Lazcano Sámano have agreed the outdated framework is restricting the market’s ability to expand and mature.
They also state the regulator SEGOB has been lacking in terms of its communication with the market, explaining: “Over the last couple of years, the regulator has not maintained a particularly active or consistent dialogue with the industry.
“If we are honest, that lack of engagement is not typically a hallmark of a fully thriving market.”
In their view, the market’s trajectory will “largely depend on whether regulatory authorities move toward greater coordination and provide the clarity that the sector has long been expecting”.
