A vaccine of education
MEXICO: THREE ONLINE GAMBLING MYTHS YOU SHOULD KNOW ALFREDO LAZCANO,
legal expert and Chair at Mexico City-based law firm Lazcano Sámano SC, analyses online gambling in Mexico and highlights three myths about the market
M
exico is a country rich in culture and full of opportunities, but also a complex and contrasting one. It is often very hard to understand how things work in this jurisdiction, even for Mexicans themselves, and that’s why we are aware that from the outside, certain practices might be perceived in a very different way than they actually are. In addition, there are people who say that during the pandemic there is also an ‘infodemic’, so it’s always good to fight harmful misinformation with a vaccine of education and information. In that sense, we want to take advantage of these lines to disprove what, in our opinion, are the three erroneous beliefs or myths about online gambling in Mexico.
MYTH 1: Online gambling is prohibited in Mexico Regarding the first myth, it’s important to contextualise this and talk about the legal gambling framework in Mexico. We have the Gambling Law from 1947. Yes, 1947. Around 57 years later, the Regulations of the Gambling Law were published, but they weren’t supposed to replace the Law, but to regulate it in detail. It is worth mentioning that the Gambling Law has never been amended and that 2013 was the last time that the regulations were modified. Of course, due to the old
30 SBC LEADERS • APRIL 2021
DURING THE PANDEMIC THERE IS ALSO AN ‘INFODEMIC’, SO IT IS GOOD TO FIGHT HARMFUL MISINFORMATION WITH A VACCINE OF EDUCATION AND INFORMATION dates in these regulations, anyone could assume that online gambling is not legal, since at the time of the law’s creation, the internet didn’t even exist. However, the Gaming Regulations expressly authorise “bets over the internet”. As we have said on more
than one occasion, although online gambling is not widely regulated as in other more mature jurisdictions, it is expressly, unequivocally and indisputably permitted. We will touch this subject later on. Furthermore, we need to be aware
