After the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the United States Department of the Treasury restricted access to the US financial system to 10 gambling establishments located in Mexico for allegedly being used to launder money for the Sinaloa cartel, the Midas betting centers located in Los Mochis, Guamúchil and Mazatlán, Sinaloa, as well as those in Rosarito, Baja California, and Agua Prieta, were suspended. Sonoran; The Mirage, in Culiacán, was also closed; two Skampa casinos, one in Villahermosa, Tabasco, and another in Ensenada, Baja California; in addition to the Emine, in San Luis Río Colorado and the Palermo, in Nogales, Sonora.
Inspectors assigned to the General Directorate of Games and Sweepstakes of the Ministry of the Interior (SG) placed the suspension seals on the establishments.
Workers at the Palermo casino, in Nogales, claimed that administrative staff ordered them to vacate the building without prior notice or information about their employment situation and placed sheets of letterhead with the SG logo at the entrances.
They explained that, after being removed from their work areas, they did not receive instructions on the procedure to follow nor were they guaranteed payment for the day. Minutes later, municipal police officers arrived to ensure that order prevailed.
Yesterday afternoon, 18 employees showed up outside the place to demand an explanation or update from the managers and owners of their employment situation, but they did not receive a response; They pointed out that the surprise also reached regular customers, who arrived without knowing that the betting house had been closed.
The Skampa casino in Ensenada had previously been closed in May 2023 by the state’s Revenue Collection, due to alleged non-compliance with tax obligations. On that occasion, the site’s representatives described the action as “arbitrary and abusive,” arguing that they were up to date with their payments.
It is also the second time that Mazatlán’s Midas has been suspended by the authorities. In November 2015, Civil Protection personnel detected that it did not have the minimum security measures to operate.
Attack at the root of the problem: Morena
The Morena bench in the Chamber of Deputies supported the operations against 13 casinos involved in money laundering and pointed out that the operation confirms that the security policy is not limited to containing crime, but attacks their economic structures.
However, deputies from that party confirmed that since November 2024 it was announced that the Executive would send a new betting and raffle law, but the document has not been received. The PT, which presented a proposal in this regard last October, recalled that in 2014, PRI and PAN froze a bill in the Senate of legislation with strict rules for casinos and their online betting.
In the 2023 Public Account report, the Superior Audit of the Federation recommended that the chamber approve a new federal law on the matter, after confirming that businessmen dedicated to gambling, horse racing and cockfighting only pay taxes equivalent to between one and 2 percent of their profits.
With information from correspondents René Alberto López, Cristina Gómez, Irene Sánchez, The Baja California Journey and the reporters Enrique Méndez and Fernando Camacho