A casino industry expert has warned that there continues to be significant opposition to reforming Mexico's gaming laws.
Brian Hever, a casino and surveillance consultant specialising in Latin America and the Caribbean, said he is not confident that the country’s laws will be amended to allow for table games and large-scale casinos in the near future.
"There was renewed talk of such reforms possibly being implemented upon the formation of the Gaming Sub-committee of the Lower House of Congress in 2008," he told InterGaming. "However, the deputies who comprise the sub-committee will be stepping down in August of this year, to make way for those newly elected on July 5.
"Perhaps the new sub-committee members will resume the discussions. Perhaps not."
Hever explained that the church and other social groups are opposed to the expansion of gaming, as are many of Mexico’s resort hotel associations whose members are concerned casino-hotels will "have a detrimental effect on their market share."
He continued: "The outgoing members of the Gaming Sub,committee should be applauded, however, for being the first to address the correct questions of how best to regulate gaming in Mexico, instead of whether or not certain globally-accepted forms of gaming should be permitted."
