Last November 16, the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador 'broke the bar' of a sector that operates 429 game rooms in the country, and published a decree in the Official Gazette of the Federation to modify the Law Regulation Federal de Juegos y Sorteos, which prohibits the use of slot machines, considered the main attraction in casinos and gaming rooms.

Furthermore, the reform will reduce the maximum validity of new permits by 25 to 15 years, which would cause a massive reduction in gaming rooms, accompanied by a reduction of up to 90 percent in the fiscal contributions of the sector, according to estimates by the Association of Permitters, Operators and Providers of the Entertainment Industry and Games with Apuesta (Aieja).

In this context, online casino operators expect accelerated growth in revenue for the next three years, as it is expected that, with new provisions, players will change their bets in virtual rooms.

“For the next three years, online casinos have very good prospects, we expect growth in revenues of up to 70 percent, much higher than the projections we had a few months ago”, said Bernardo Verdejo Landeros, manager of Mexico at Strendus .

Prior to the changes in the Regulation of the Federal Law of Juegos and Sorteos, the income projections for 2027 were 3 thousand 490 million dollars, an increase of 31 percent compared to the income for 2023, which is expected to reach 2 thousand 390 million dollars.

However, although online casinos were not affected by the new provisions of the government of Mexico, Verdejo estimated increases of up to 70 percent, and decided that the income could reach 4 thousand 63 million dollars.

“The advantage of being an online casino is that the possibilities for growth are very large, including betting on internationalization as one of the strategies, so you have to go and touch these markets and see the different jurisdictions (...) and for Legislation questions have to be seen when considering the requirements”, added the Strendus online casino directive.

Internet penetration will contribute to growth

According to the National Survey on Availability and Use of Information Technologies in Homes (ENDUTIH) 2023, in Mexico there are around 93.1 million Mexicans with access to the internet, of which 87 per cent have access to a smartphone, so which places Mexico as a country with a large margin of growth for the online casino industry.

Currently, user penetration in the online gambling market is approximately 17.3 percent of Mexicans with internet access, however, it is expected that coverage and the number of users with a smartphone will increase , superior sea penetration.

In this sense, the number of online casino users is expected to reach 31.6 million users by the end of 2028, according to Statista.

“Expectations for growth in this sector are very high, it is expected that for the next few years there will be growth in the number of users, this is thanks to the fact that there are increasingly more options to bet on and even thanks to the fact that the interest of them has grown. women for sports matches”, assured Roberto Müller, CFO of the Playdoit online casino.

He details that even the average ticket will increase in the coming years, as it is currently between 200 and a thousand pesos, but for the next few years, it is expected to increase by 18 percent year-on-year.

Online casinos will bet using AI
In addition to the favorable conditions that exist in online casinos in Mexico, there is the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), which, for experts, is essential to implement as soon as possible in order to improve customer satisfaction.

Strendus directive explained that the AI is capable of analyzing data from all areas to determine what type of customer plays a game in particular, while also being able to improve the experience by grouping players with similar characteristics.

“From where we see the panorama, online casinos have great opportunities for growth in Mexico in the coming years, but it is important that clear rules continue to exist to attract new investments to the country”, says Verdejo.