Like any good business, the casino industry follows the money. However, it appears to have decided that there is not enough to be made in Mexico (among other countries) to be worth the investment – especially not for little "amenity" casinos with two dozen slots and a roulette wheel. The presence of roulette and blackjack suggests that the Mexican government may be relaxing its attitude on what games it will/will not permit. The country’s gaming laws, on the books for 70 years, are in the process of being revamped.
A January 2013 profile of Exciting Games (the largest U.S. operator in Mexico at the time, with six casinos) depicted Exciting’s offerings as restricted to slots and sports betting. The company ran Mexico’s biggest casino, Kash, in the Mexico City suburb of Naucalpan and it contained 830 slots – an impressive number, but well shy of a Vegas megaresort. Furthermore, journalist Tim Johnson reported, "In Mexico’s messy casino industry, survival isn’t easy. The nation’s gaming laws are masterpieces of ambiguity, rivals use dubious legal tactics to undercut foes and chicanery is a practiced art."
"Things are not as black and white in Mexico as far as interpretation of the law. The regulations need to be tightened up," Exciting President Gordon Burr lamented to Johnson. He had entered the Mexican market, thinking it might lure the big boys from Las Vegas, Macao and Singapore. Perhaps they might even buy him out … but if that was the case, he made a bad bet.
Nine years after Burr broke into the Mexican casino business, it’s still pretty small-time. Burr’s idea of a big investment was $50 million – chump change by Vegas standards. (Regulatory ambiguity has kept American operators at arm’s length from the considerably more lucrative Philippines market.) Violence also constitutes a disincentive. Monterrey’s Casino Royale was firebombed in 2011 and the same city’s Casino Revolucion was shot at the following year.
The big players in the Mexican marketplace – PlayCity and Caliente – are home-grown enterprises. There are also myriad casinos that operate without federal sanction but are kept open by court injunctions. There’s also plenty of competition, especially from lotto, in which the country is awash.
"In the last decade, Mexico has issued hundreds of gaming permits in a country where previously, gambling was banned. Mexico’s Supreme Court has allowed the new rules to stand. Proposed new regulations would now allow permit holders to transfer their rights to third parties," reported television station KVUE … although Vegas casino owners were not among those third parties queuing up to buy permits.
WizardOfVegas.com sent a correspondent to a quartet of Mexican casinos and she was largely unimpressed with what she found. "The sports books in all four casinos were tiny, with a couple of TV screens and some chairs around tables in what I call bar style. There are boards with money lines and other information, too. The kinds of bets available are the same you’ll find in most Vegas sports books, with perhaps more emphasis on soccer … I don’t want to come off as negative, but to call a slot parlor with bingo and a sports book a casino seems like a stretch to me." The only exception to the rule she found was Royal Yak – yes, that’s its name – which offered Sic Bo and craps.
Border town Ciduad Juarez is home to several casinos, including two owned by entrepreneur Raul Rodriguez. Late last year, he opened Room 802, which emphasized poker and table games in hopes of luring American players, especially from the El Paso area. "We're the only ones who will offer Texas Hold 'Em," he told KVUE. His other casino simply had 124 slots and a sports book – par for the Mexican course.
To say the marketplace is crowded would be an understatement. Mexico has 297 casinos, according to Interior Ministry statistics. That number could balloon to as many as 775 under new government policy. American tourists, however, continue to be discouraged from visiting them by the State Department, which says, "Of particular safety concern are casinos, sports books, or other gambling establishments and adult entertainment establishments." A rewrite of the Federal Betting & Raffles Law was expected to be crafted in such a way as to encourage more tourist-friendly casinos in resort cities like Puerto Vallarta.
An old, online article that predates the 2005 merger of then-Harrah’s Entertainment with Park Place Entertainment (both now Caesars Entertainment) predicted $500 million megaresorts for Acapulco and Mazatlan. It never happened. Now, with the Vegas industry turning its gaze to Japan and South Korea, a Mexican expansion seems more unlikely than ever.
