Mexico Gaming License

What is a Mexico gaming license?

In Mexican law the instrument is a permiso, not a licence. DGJS grants it to a Mexican commercial company for one named establishment or one event. The Ley Federal de Juegos y Sorteos and its Reglamento govern it. Online play is a channel added to a live land-based permiso, rather than a separate permit type.

Mexican gambling law starts from a ban. Article 1 of the Ley Federal de Juegos y Sorteos prohibits games of chance and games with bets across the whole national territory. Article 2 of the same Ley then permits a closed list of activities plus sorteos, and any game outside that list counts as prohibited.

Article 4 of the Ley Federal de Juegos y Sorteos supplies the exception. No venue, open or closed, may operate games with bets or sorteos without permission from SEGOB. The same article adds that SEGOB fixes the requirements and conditions in each case. That clause matters commercially, because the conditions attached to a permiso are set deal by deal rather than published as a standard schedule.

Buyers use the word licence, and this page uses it as a synonym because that is what operators type. The legal term is permiso, and its holder is the permisionario. Keeping the two words apart is the difference between understanding who is regulated and assuming it is you.

Who regulates gambling in Mexico?

DGJS grants and supervises permisos, and SEGOB is the ministry that houses it. Four other bodies matter. The UIF and SHCP supervise anti-money-laundering duties, the SAT collects IEPS and ISR, and PROFECO handles consumer protection and advertising complaints. State and municipal authorities clear the location of any land-based venue.

Published guides tend to merge these bodies into one regulator. They are separate, and each one can stop a project independently. A file that satisfies DGJS still needs a favourable opinion from the relevant state government, ayuntamiento or alcaldía. Article 22 of the Reglamento requires that opinion as documentary evidence before the permit can be granted.

Tax administration splits again once the operation is live. The SAT, the Servicio de Administración Tributaria, assesses the IEPS and corporate income tax. The state treasury assesses its own charge on the same activity, and the SHCP receives the anti-money-laundering reports through the SAT portal. Several filing calendars therefore run in parallel, and a permit holder that misses one of them has a problem with its permiso as well as with the tax authority.

One authority sits outside the regime entirely. Article 3 of the Ley Federal de Juegos y Sorteos gives SEGOB the regulation, authorisation, control and supervision of games with bets and of sorteos. The same article expressly excludes the Lotería Nacional, which is governed by its own law. State lottery products therefore sit on a separate legal footing and are not comparable to a DGJS permiso.

Is online gambling legal in Mexico?

Online gambling is legal in Mexico, but only through a holder of a land-based permiso. Article 85 of the Reglamento lets an authorised establishment take bets by internet, telephone or electronic means. Mexico has no standalone remote licence, so a foreign site cannot be licensed to serve Mexican players on its own.

Article 85 is short, and its brevity is the whole online rulebook. The establishment has to set up an internal control system for transactions on those channels. Its procedures and rules go in writing, so that the betting systems cannot be violated or manipulated. The system records at least the account number and identity of the bettor, plus the date, time, transaction number, amount wagered and selection requested.

What article 85 leaves out shapes the project as much as what it demands. The article sets no technical standard, no testing regime and no rule on where player funds are held. An operator arriving from a market with certification requirements finds the compliance weight sitting in the corporate file.

The article closes with the operative requirement: the betting-capture mechanics must be approved in advance by SEGOB. That prior approval, not a licence application, is what turns an existing permiso into a legal online channel.

Article 86 adds the settlement rule. Bets are taken in cash except those placed by internet, telephone or electronic means, which count as paid once the relevant bank confirms payment to the bettor or to the permisionario.

What changed in Mexico's November 2023 gambling reform?

The Decreto published in the DOF on 16 November 2023, the reforma to the Reglamento, took effect the next day. It banned máquinas tragamonedas in any form and ended the third-party operador route. It also capped permit terms at 15 years and confirmed that one permit covers one establishment or one event. Relocating a venue now needs a new permit.

Article 12 carries the machine ban. It defines a máquina tragamonedas as any device through which a user plays with a bet, by inserting cash or another form of payment, in order to win a prize. Article 12 Bis survived the decree and still exempts betting terminals for horse racing and sporting events. Those terminals must be clearly identified in the authorised establishment and carry SEGOB authorisation.

Chapter VIII of the Reglamento governed number and symbol draws through machines, and the decree emptied it. Articles 137 Bis, 137 Ter and 137 Quáter are all derogated. Guides that report articles 12 and 12 Bis as derogated have the wrong provisions.

Sub-licensing ended in the body of the Reglamento and in its transitional articles together. The 2023 decree derogated article 30, which had allowed a permit holder to seek authorisation for a third party to run the business, along with two definitions in article 3. Transitional article four then keeps the rights of existing operators alive only until the permits that created them expire, and it expressly excludes any extension of those permits. It also voids the authorisation of any operator that was not actually running an establishment when the decree took effect.

Read the no-new-permits rule precisely, because it is narrower than the trade press suggests. Transitional article two bars new permits for the opening of establishments other than the types the Reglamento contemplates. DGJS has granted no new permits for existing types either. That second point is administrative practice, and a reform could change it overnight.

How can a foreign operator enter the Mexican market?

A foreign company cannot hold a DGJS permiso. For the categories an online project needs, only a commercial company incorporated under Mexican law may apply, and the operador route that foreign brands once used ended in November 2023. Entry now means a Mexican company plus a commercial arrangement with an existing permit holder, who stays the regulated party.

Article 20 of the Reglamento is explicit on eligibility, and it varies by category. Permits for racetracks, greyhound tracks, frontones, remote betting centres and number-draw halls go only to commercial companies incorporated under Mexican law. Cockfights, temporary horse races and sorteos may also go to individuals, which is why the eligibility rule has to be read per category rather than as a blanket bar.

Market practice for the corporate categories is a sociedad anónima de capital variable, the S.A. de C.V. The article itself says sociedades mercantiles, which is broader, so the vehicle is a commercial choice more than a legal one.

Three routes are used in practice, and they trade speed against control. Any structure here needs review by Mexican counsel before signature. An arrangement that recreates the abolished operador figure in substance would put the permit holder's permiso at risk, and with it your access to the market.

Route 1 - Commercial agreement with a DGJS permit holder

Route 1 is the quickest way in and the one that gives you least control. You supply platform, content, marketing and technical services. The permit holder operates the offering, remains the regulated entity, and takes a share of the economics under a commercial contract.

Draw the legal line against the abolished route plainly. An operador held a SEGOB authorisation to exploit somebody else's permit in its own right, and that authorisation no longer exists. A supply agreement transfers neither the permiso nor the operation. The Reglamento makes both personal to the permit holder, which is precisely why it cannot delegate them.

Route 2 - Acquisition of or investment in a permisionario

Buying into the permit holder converts a supplier relationship into ownership. It takes longer and puts every new shareholder in front of the regulator. Article 22 of the Reglamento reaches through the whole structure: each individual shareholder, the shareholders of corporate shareholders, and the identity of the beneficiaries.

Diligence on this kind of target is unusual, because the asset is the permiso itself. Remaining term, category, venue and compliance history decide the value, and none of them appears in a financial model.

One clause decides whether this route is even available to you. Article 29 of the Reglamento obliges the permit holder to keep its own shareholders, and the shareholders of those shareholders up to the last beneficiary, out of preferential-tax and low-tax jurisdictions. The carve-outs are narrow: listed companies meeting standards equivalent to the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores, plus registered pension or investment funds.

An operator whose group sits behind an offshore holding company therefore cannot simply take shares in a permisionario. Restructuring the chain first is part of the work, and our iGaming M&A team handles the corporate side of that.

Route 3 - Mexican subsidiary partnering with a permit holder

Standing up a Mexican subsidiary suits groups planning a long presence, not a single product launch. The subsidiary incorporates as a sociedad anónima de capital variable and registers with the SAT for an RFC. It then employs local staff and holds the commercial contract with the permit holder.

Ownership of the permiso still sits with the partner. What the subsidiary buys you is a Mexican balance sheet and a local counterparty for banking and payments. It also gives you a vehicle that can later acquire an interest in a permisionario, once the ownership chain passes article 29.

What types of gambling permits does DGJS issue?

Permit types in the Reglamento follow the activity, not the channel. Article 20 covers betting at racetracks, greyhound tracks and frontones, plus remote betting centres and number-draw halls. Fairs, temporary events such as cockfights and horse races, and sorteos each have their own category. Online sits inside these categories.

Counts of these categories vary across the market, because they are taken from marketing labels and not from article 20. The table below follows the Reglamento.

How long is a Mexico gaming permit valid?

Article 33 of the Reglamento sets the term at a minimum of one year and a maximum of 15 years. That applies to racetracks, greyhound tracks, frontones, remote betting centres and number-draw halls. Permits may be extended for further periods of up to 15 years where the holder is current on every obligation.

Two published claims about the term are wrong. A minimum of five years appears in several vendor guides; the Reglamento says one. Descriptions of the 15-year cap as non-extendable are also wrong, because the closing paragraph of article 33 provides for extension.

The non-extendable language does exist, but it applies to a narrow set of legacy permits. Transitional article two of the 2023 decree respects permits already in operation that cover activities the decree does not contemplate. Where such a permit would run past the article 33 term, its validity is treated as fifteen non-extendable years from the date of publication. Extensions are refused only for permits relating to those activities.

Extension is conditional rather than automatic. A holder in arrears on its financial reporting, its participación payments or its bond has no entitlement to a further term.

What are the requirements to obtain a Mexico gaming permit?

Articles 21 and 22 of the Reglamento set the dossier, and for casino and sportsbook categories only a Mexican commercial company may file it. The file covers the RFC, the incorporation deed and shareholder disclosure with sworn clean-record declarations. It also needs a ten-year viability study, proven operating experience, a favourable state or municipal opinion, and a bond.

Article 21 covers every permit type. Article 22 adds the heavier file that applies to racetracks, frontones, remote betting centres and number-draw halls, which are the categories any online project needs.

• Mexican commercial company with the permitted activity as its preponderant corporate purpose, and the article 29 obligations reproduced in the notarial deed.

• RFC registration with the SAT, evidenced by the certificate of registration or the Cédula de Identificación Fiscal.

• Shareholder disclosure to the last beneficiary, covering each individual and corporate shareholder. Each one files name, nationality and domicile, a statement of net worth specifying the origin of the capital contributed, five years of federal tax returns where applicable, a CV, and any patrimonial or professional links to other permit holders.

• Clean-record declarations sworn by shareholders, directors, statutory auditors and senior officers, covering intentional patrimonial and fiscal offences, organised crime and operations with illicit funds. The 2023 decree extended these to the shareholders of corporate shareholders.

• Every shareholder and officer supplies a credit bureau report showing no adverse records and no overdue credit.

• Ten-year study justifying the geographic location and the financial viability of the establishment, with every figure and projection supported by stated working assumptions.

• Favourable opinion from the relevant state government, ayuntamiento or alcaldía for installing the establishment.

• Operating and investment programmes, an organisation manual with the structure and senior job descriptions, a draft operating regulation for the establishment and a labour projection.

• Betting-system documentation: the operating mechanics of the betting system, its control mechanisms and the rules of each game offered. The file specifies the IT infrastructure, the technological and IT security system, and the technical support policies to be used.

• The 2023 decree turned proven operating experience in the relevant betting or draw into an express requirement.

• Fianza guaranteeing prize payment, together with the basis on which it was calculated.

• AML programme under the LFPIORPI, including customer identification procedures, the Aviso filed through the SAT portal and a designated compliance officer. Gambling is listed among the Actividades Vulnerables, so these duties come from the anti-money-laundering law rather than the Reglamento.

Two requirements that appear in published guides are absent from the current Reglamento. Independent certification of a random number generator by an accredited laboratory appears nowhere in it. Nor does any obligation to host gaming servers inside Mexico. What the Reglamento demands is the documentation above, plus SEGOB's prior approval of the betting-capture mechanics under article 85.

What taxes apply to gambling operators in Mexico?

Mexican operations carry three tax layers. IEPS on games with bets is 50% from 1 January 2026, charged on amounts received from participants less prizes paid. Corporate income tax is 30% of profit. States tax the same activity again, and in Mexico City the organiser pays 13% on the same net measure.

Base, not rate, is where most Mexico business cases go wrong. Article 18 of the Ley del IEPS builds the base from the amounts effectively received from participants. The permit holder then deducts the prizes effectively paid or delivered, and the amounts effectively returned to participants before the event. Where those deductions exceed the month's activity, the excess carries into the following months. Model the 50% against that net figure, and the Mexico City 13% against its own net measure.

The 2026 reform also crossed the border. A foreign resident with no permanent establishment in Mexico now owes the 50% IEPS when the recipient of the service is in Mexican territory, and so does a digital intermediation platform. Both must run a central betting system and a cash-control system, and report to the SAT in real time. Non-compliance can lead to temporary blocking of the digital service. An offshore licence no longer keeps an operator outside the Mexican tax net.

Mexico City reaches wider than its own borders. Its tax applies where tickets or access codes are distributed or sold in Mexico City, whatever the location of the event. Article 148 of the Código Fiscal also stops the permit holder adding that tax to its prices or showing it separately on tickets, so the permit holder absorbs the 13% and the player does not.

Player withholding splits by prize class, and that split is routinely missed. Prizes from games with bets carry a flat 1% under the second paragraph of article 138, with no state-rate trigger. Prizes from draws, raffles and contests carry 1% under the first paragraph, rising to 21% in states whose own rate exceeds 6%. A sportsbook therefore withholds 1% wherever it operates, while a number-draw product can face 21% depending on the state.

What are the ongoing compliance obligations for permit holders?

A permit holder reports to several authorities at once. The Reglamento requires quarterly financial statements within 20 business days and audited annual statements within six months. Gambling is a vulnerable activity under the LFPIORPI, which brings customer identification, reporting to the SAT and a designated compliance officer. Advertising clearance and responsible-gaming duties sit alongside those.

• Financial reporting. A monthly report of income and of the participación paid to the federal treasury. Quarterly statements signed by the chief executive, within 20 business days of quarter end. Annual statements audited by an independent public accountant registered with the SHCP, within six months of the fiscal year end.

• Bond and insurance. A fianza covering unpaid prizes over 60 days of average annual operation, filed with SEGOB within the first three days of its validity together with the calculation study. An annual copy of the insurance policy on equipment and installations goes in separately.

• Corporate governance. The bylaws adopt the code of best corporate practices of the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores. At least 25% of the board must be independent directors, and fixed capital is maintained to the levels SEGOB sets.

• Ownership restrictions. Shareholders up to the last beneficiary must stay outside preferential-tax and low-tax territories. Shares may not be held through trusts where the settlor differs from the beneficiary.

• Anti-money-laundering. Customer identification from 325 UMA, an Aviso to the SAT from 645 UMA, and a cash ceiling of 3,210 UMA, with a compliance officer registered with the SHCP. New risk-based rules arrived with Acuerdo 115/2026, signed on 24 July 2026 and published in the DOF on 7 August 2026. The Acuerdo enters into force on 30 November 2026, and the obligations then phase in: the risk-assessment methodology and the Manual de Políticas Internas from 1 March 2027, automated mechanisms from 1 June 2027, and the first period subject to audit is the 2028 financial year, reported in early 2029. Two earlier reforms sit behind it, the LFPIORPI reform of 16 July 2025 and the reform of its Reglamento of 27 March 2026.

• Advertising. Promotion may run only once the permit is held. It may not explicitly promote the bets practised in the establishment. It must carry the permit number, state that betting is prohibited for minors, and include a responsible-gaming message.

• Special and promotional events at a remote betting centre need SEGOB authorisation requested at least 30 days ahead.

• Betting operations run in national currency. Minimum age is 18, and authorised sites are expected to offer self-exclusion and deposit limits.

Regional limits apply on top of the federal file. State and municipal authorities control whether a venue may be installed at all, which is why article 22 makes their favourable opinion a documentary requirement. Geo-restriction therefore belongs in the technical plan wherever a partner venue sits in a restrictive state. Published lists of prohibited states circulate without a legislative citation behind them, so treat the question state by state.

What is the status of Mexico's new gambling law?

As of 4 September 2026 the 1947 statute and its 2004 Reglamento remain the law. SEGOB says its replacement bill is drafted and reviewed by federal agencies, with the security cabinet next and Congress after that. No bill text has been introduced, and no date has been set.

SEGOB announced a full reform of the Ley Federal de Juegos y Sorteos in September 2025. Its stated purpose is control of money laundering and tax fraud. November 2025 brought the fiscal package that raised the IEPS to 50%. By early September 2026 the Secretary of the Interior confirmed the draft had cleared internal review and awaited the security cabinet.

Litigation over the 2023 decree remains unresolved, and it resolved in an unusual way. The Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación (SCJN) had a draft ruling on amparo en revisión 257/2025 listed for its July 2026 session and pulled the item before the vote. In late August 2026 the claimant withdrew its own amparo, which produced a dismissal and left the Court with nothing to decide.

In practice this leaves enforcement uneven. The substance of the decree stands, at least a dozen operators filed amparos against it, and enforcement varies operator by operator depending on what each of them has won. No binding general precedent confirms or strikes the decree. Treat both the new law and the litigation as open, and avoid planning around a date for either.

How does a Mexico gaming permit compare with other licenses?

Mexico is the only one of the three where you cannot be the licensee. Peru admits a foreign applicant with a resident legal representative. Brazil requires a Brazilian company with a local shareholder. Both issue an authorisation you hold yourself, while Mexico issues a permiso to an incumbent instead.

That comparison sets up a sequencing decision, not a ranking. An operator that wants a licence in its own name has options in Peru and Brazil. An operator that wants Mexican players has to accept that the licence will belong to somebody else. Our gambling license hub sets out every jurisdiction we handle, offshore and onshore.

Advantages of entering the Mexican gaming market

Mexico has been issuing betting authorisations since 1947, so the regime is settled and its mechanics are known. Local payment rails are mature, suppliers of software and content need no DGJS permit of their own, and Mexico co-hosts the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Demand is real; the constraint is access.

• Permits, reporting, bonding and inspection have all been running for decades. The counterparty risk sits in your partner, not in an untested regulator.

• Payment infrastructure that already reaches the whole market. SPEI covers bank transfers, OXXO Pay covers cash top-ups for players without cards, and CoDi and DiMo add instant transfer options.

• Article 20 lists no supplier category. Platform, content and aggregation businesses contract with the permit holder without a DGJS permit of their own.

• A demand catalyst in 2026. Mexico co-hosts the FIFA World Cup, which concentrates sports betting demand in a football market that already sustains a large regulated sector.

• One document set, many venues. A permit holder often holds several permits, so a supplier agreement negotiated once can extend across the partner's estate without a fresh dossier for each site.

• Article 33 allows up to 15 years and provides for extension. A well-chosen partner can carry a multi-year product roadmap.

Competitively, the tax reform cuts both ways, and the second edge is sharper. Extending the 50% IEPS to offshore operators narrows the cost gap between a licensed channel and a grey one, which helps anyone who was losing share to untaxed competitors. Set against that, a rate this high carries the standard channelisation risk: players move to sites that pay nothing, and the tax base shrinks with them. Our reading is that the levelling effect is a reason to model Mexico carefully, and no guarantee that the regulated channel wins.

Disadvantages and limitations of the Mexican regime

Access is the problem, not demand. There is no standalone online licence, DGJS has granted no new permits for years, and sub-licensing closed in November 2023. Every route therefore runs through an incumbent. The 2026 IEPS rate of 50% is among the heaviest gaming tax burdens anywhere, and a Mexican company is mandatory.

• Regulatory responsibility sits with the permit holder, which owns the player relationship in regulatory terms and can lose the permiso for what happens in your half of the operation. You are not the licensee.

• The ownership rule blocks offshore groups. Article 29 obliges a permit holder to keep residents of preferential-tax and low-tax jurisdictions out of its ownership chain. A typical offshore holding structure cannot buy in until that chain is restructured.

• Tax stacks rather than substitutes. IEPS at 50% of net receipts sits alongside 30% ISR on profit and a further state charge on the same net receipts, which in Mexico City is 13%.

• Partner selection, corporate work and the compliance build run in sequence. No fast track exists, because there is no application queue to join.

• Regulatory uncertainty in both directions. The replacement law has been imminent since 2023, and the constitutionality of the 2023 decree is undecided. Either could move the rules that govern your partner's permiso.

• Regional restrictions constrain the partner, and therefore you. State and municipal authorities control venue installation, which limits which permit holders can host which products where.

• Enforcement is active, and it reaches banking. Two different US instruments are often merged into one here. OFAC imposes sanctions; FinCEN, acting under section 311, issued a finding and a proposed rule against Mexico-based casinos in 2025 over alleged cartel laundering, which is a proposal rather than an imposed special measure. Separately, DGJS suspended ten online domains in July 2026. Payment and banking counterparties price Mexico accordingly.

• Your partner's dispute is your outage. On 12 November 2025 the Financial Intelligence Unit of the SHCP ordered access blocked to thirteen physical and digital casinos in a money-laundering investigation, and two international betting brands went dark with them. The courts did not simply put them back: a provisional suspension in late November was revoked by a collegiate court on 3 December 2025, and the definitive suspension granted in mid-December preserved only the domains and the applications while expressly not authorising the resumption of games and betting. The permit holder held its own permiso throughout. The lesson is not about somebody else's paperwork: an investigation into the permit holder takes the product offline whatever the permiso says.

• Offshore is no longer a quiet alternative. Since 2026 a foreign operator serving Mexican players owes the 50% IEPS and faces temporary blocking of its digital service for non-payment.

Why choose MGL

Mexico rewards partner selection over paperwork, and that is the part we do. We identify and vet permit holders whose category, venue and remaining term fit your product. We structure the commercial agreement, and we test your ownership chain against the article 29 restrictions before anyone signs.

Partner selection is where a Mexico project is won or lost. A permit whose term is nearly spent, whose category does not cover your product, or whose venue sits in a restrictive state will not carry a launch, however good the commercial terms look. We check those four variables first, because they cannot be fixed by contract afterwards.

Four workstreams follow. We incorporate and register the Mexican company. We build the AML framework to LFPIORPI standard, including the compliance officer appointment. We model the tax stack so that the 50% IEPS lands on the right base. And we coordinate the laboratory testing and technical documentation the permit holder will ask for.

MGL has delivered 300+ licences across offshore, onshore and EU or UK regimes. On Mexico we do not promise a permit, because DGJS is not issuing them. Nor do we promise a date for SEGOB's channel approval. What we will tell you early is whether the numbers work at 50% IEPS and whether your structure can pass.