The Mexican coin-op market has had its ups and downs over the years and has at times been used as a 'dumping ground' for old equipment. Helen Fletcher assesses what the future holds for coin-op in this turbulent market...

The Mexican coin-op market is one that has changed considerably over the past 30 years and what was once a heavily restricted market in terms of imports in the 60s, has transformed into a more mature market that has recovered from the disastrous mid-90s depression, has benefited from the North American Free Trade Agreement free trade pact in North America and, according to Marc Haim of distributor Belam, is now enjoying reasonably good business in the amusement sector.

Video arcades struggle to compete

There is estimated to be 100,000 amusement machines in Mexico with companies such as Sega, Namco and ICE holding the largest presence in the market.

Haim told InterGame: “The redemption market, including cranes and other prize dispensing equipment as well as ticket redemption machines is flourishing, as are jukeboxes, but the video arcade market is struggling to regain its former dominance.”

Most of the major US manufacturers have distributors in Mexico that sell a small number of products including companies such as Video Chips, Cigar Solo, Game Box, Rincon Musical and Group Mexicano de Video Juegos. 

According to Mike Rudowicz of the AAMA it is the video game business that has seen the most significant change.

“Many of the operators have purchased Xboxes and small cabinets/monitors and have set up their own video games for under US$1,000 throughout the country,” he said.

“The video game market has become practically non-existent other than for special types of video simulator.”

There are currently around 50 small companies manufacturing various types of Xbox type video games on which customers pay for playtime.

Rudowicz added: “The Mexican market was used for some time as a dumping ground for old equipment and operators had very little money to bring in new equipment.

Time for a change

“However, the law was changed to permit new operators to enter the business and the market started to grow and stabilise. Many of the operators were able to buy new equipment when it became available and they built a very strong market during that time.

“In the past few years however, the market has deteriorated considerably due to several factors. Most importantly, the Mexican economy has weakened, especially with the election of the current president and many of the operators have had trouble surviving with all the gaming equipment entering the market like the low payout machines that come into the country from China.”

Rudowicz went on to say: “It seems the market has been ruined by low cost illegal products that do not follow the regulations governing the equipment. Only the individual manufacturers along with the government authorities can fight this phenomenon, which has totally got out of hand as the market cannot support both and as a result has shrunk for the legitimate coin-op amusement products.”

Bingo licences granted

In 2006 the Mexican Government issued 360 bingo licences and games close to the style of those already successful in Brazilian bingo and the country began to emerge as a ‘bright new prospect’ for coin-operated gaming machines with a succession of manufacturers starting to supply the country with equipment such as IGT, Cadillac Jack and Bally.

Mexico has around 15 operators of bingo halls with three or four significant chains of clubs. Some of the bingo licences are restricted to individual states and the rules permit either paper or electronic bingo.

The rules also permit playing the game through machines with spinning reels. The licences resulted in somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 games going into the country.

There is a general prohibition against most forms of gambling in Mexico, including: no casinos, no poker and no sports betting. However, horse and dog racing are legal and lotteries are widespread.

One of the most recent changes to occur in Mexico, according to Rudowicz, is the legalisation of slot machines.

“Approximately 64 different individuals or companies own different licences to operate machines that look like slot machines but really work on a bingo-type call program with random access winners, in tourist type venues,” he said.

“Currently there are no regulated gaming laws in Mexico that state these machines are legal but I would say there are around 100,000 gaming machines now in the country.”

And as for the future of the Mexican coin-op market – well it still has some considerable growing to do and the legalisation of AWPs could help quicken this growth.

However, if this does not happen it is possible that the market will become over saturated with illegal AWPs, which will have a further detrimental effect on the amusement market.