Mexican judge dictates the unconstitutionality of the rule that bans gambling

Judge Gabriel Regis granted the first three protections against changes to the Reglamento de la Ley Federal de Juegos y Sorteos (LFJS), which absolutely prohibits “number draws”, a euphemism for draws, and only authorizes the 444 casinos that are operating since the beginning of 2023, until their permissions expire.

According to the judge, since 2016, the Supreme Court of Justice has clarified that the LFJS -which has not been reformed since 1947- only allows draws, and that this term is applicable to symbol or number machines, the result of which depends on bad luck and not of the player's dexterity.

In order to support 26 licensed companies and casino operators, headed by the firms Eventos Festivos de México, Operadora Megawin and Operadora Lami, the judge -which concentrates the majority of demands for this topic- declared that the right to freedom of people who work no these machines is violated.

Roulette and cards

Regis also fell against article 91 of the Regulation, in which the Executive prohibited ruleta games, dice and suits, stating that they could not be considered as “lucky”.

The sentences include a study of the mechanics of ruleta and poker, to conclude that the first one is totally unlucky, which is why it can only be seen as a draw, according to the Court's criteria, while card games are one mix of chance and skill, and the data is expressly authorized by the LFJS.

Furthermore, Regis declared unconstitutional the obligation to process a new permit before the Government when the location of a casino is changed and the prohibition to maintain illegal transactions when existing permits are extended.

The Government challenged the sentences, which for now have no effect.