La Jornada: Mexico fights laundering casinos

Ten online casino pages – including betano.mx and bet365.mx, which operated with the permission of Ganador Azteca, SAPI de CV, of Grupo Salinas – are suspended by the General Directorate of Games and Sweepstakes (DGJS) of the Ministry of the Interior.

Meanwhile, in the first five months of 2026, Mexico’s financial sector made 202,045 reports of “operations linked to gambling, contests and raffles”, one of the vulnerable activities that must be reported to the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit.

Notices of relevant activities in casinos reached at least 15,287 million pesos from January to May, according to official information, and . It should be noted that this figure is the minimum figure, given that notifications are only made when an operation exceeds the equivalent of 645 measurement and update units (UMA). They do not imply the accusation of a crime, but it is a rule to issue the report as a preventive measure so that the operation is reviewed.

Two out of three operate

In Mexico, 136 Internet pages have obtained permission to operate as online casinos, according to Government reports. According to the most recent registry, only two out of three sites are in operation, given that the rest are on pause due to some technical or administrative measure, they stopped operating, or were suspended by the DGJS, some as part of investigations related to money laundering and/or financing of terrorism.

On November 11, the FIU reported that, after months of investigation, it identified 13 casinos in which cash operations, international flows and the use of unsupervised digital platforms were shown, so “due to their high financial risk” the accounts of these companies were blocked, in order to “prevent these spaces from being used by organized crime.”

At the time, Grupo Salinas reported that two of its online betting platforms were part of a federal investigation, bet365.mx and betano.mx, which remain non-operational. Both have Ganador Azteca as a permitting company.

The Government suspended five domains from the permit holder Espectáculos Deportivos de Oeste.

This is 1xbet.mx; luckia.mx; netbet.com.mx; etabet.mx and casinomiravallepalace.com, although the first four are no longer online, in the last case it does appear as current.

Comercializadora de Entretenimiento de Chihuahua, SA de CV was suspended from kingsbet.com.mx; Juegos y Sorteos de Jalisco, SA de CV was terminated from kasino.mx and Operadora de Coincidencias Numéricas was suspended from diamondcasino.com.mx.

Alondra de la Garza, partner in the prevention of money laundering and financing of terrorism and partner in charge of the Juárez office at Salles Sainz Grant Thornton, explained that both “dirty and clean money” is moved in games and raffles, hence all companies linked to the sector must notify the Tax Administration Service and receive anti-laundering controls. Otherwise, sanctions are applied.

Due to the operations of activities that may be used for laundering, the financial sector must notify the tax authorities when a movement exceeds a certain amount. In the case of games with bets, contests and raffles, the threshold is 75 thousand 664.95 pesos (645 UMA of 2026).