SEGOB Aims to Turn Mexico's Resorts into Casino Areas

Karina Suarez - La Reforma
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March 10, 2015

'There should be casino resort areas with entertainment centers, sports arenas, first class hotels and convention centers,' SEGOB's director of Gaming Commission, Marcela González Salas, said last week.

Mexico City - The former Mexican Secretariat of the Interior (SEGOB) intends to turn Nuevo Vallarta and Puerto Peñasco into shining examples of gambling and entertainment resort areas in Mexico.

Marcela González Salas, who until last week was SEGOB's General Director of Gaming, explained that in Puerto Peñasco they want to take advantage of its proximity to the United States to attract more customers, while in Nuevo Vallarta potential casinos go hand-in-hand with the arrival of the Cirque du Soleil Theme Park, which is expected to open in 2018.

"There should be casino resort areas, complete with entertainment centers, sports arenas, first class hotels, convention centers," she said.

González Salas left office last Friday to be included on the list of candidates of PRI deputies. According to her, this change in direction will not affect these plans, as in the interim they will fall into the hands of the deputy general manager of operations, Marcos García Hernández.

Miguel Angel Ochoa, the president of Mexico's Association of Licensees, Operators and Providers of Entertainment & Betting Games Industry (AIEJA), indicated that casino operators are more interested in setting up shop in Los Cabos, Baja California Sur and Cancun, Quintana Roo.


Original article translated and edited by Diego Sanchez for BanderasNews.com

Segob announces casino projects

Interior Secretariat spokesperson Marcela González Salas announced a project to create Las Vegas-style casinos in Mexico. CUARTOSCURO

With permits, estimated 775 building projects can begin

thenews.mx

BY PEDRO MONTES DE OCA
The News

MEXICO CITY – In order to halt the growth of casinos in urban areas, the Interior Secretariat (Segob) confirmed that a project to create Las Vegas-style casinos outside of city centers is in the works Tuesday.

They would presumably be built in the Riviera Maya, Acapulco or Baja California, said Eduardo Sánchez, a spokesman for the Mexican Government and Marcela González Salas, the general director for the Gaming Commission of the Interior Secretariat.

In a joint press conference, they stressed that this project aims to keep casinos from operating in urban areas, where there are currently 297.
 

Once permits from local and federal officials have been obtained, an estimated 775 casinos could be built in these resort areas. The numbers are based on the amount of permits that have been issued in past administrations.

At the beginning of the current administration, there were 412 casinos in operation. Some of the permits for these casinos were revoked due to irregularities or because some permits were issued to run various casinos under the same permit, which is no longer allowed, González said.
 

State and federal authorities have worked together to reduce the enormous profits, estimated to be between 500 and 600 million pesos ($33.4 to $40.1 million), of which no taxes were paid.

Segob, the Attorney General’s Office and numerous state governments are also working together to eradicate slot machines.

The federal government has removed 13,000 machines voluntarily so far.

“Gambling addictions, like every other addiction, are associated with other high risk behavior that can impact a person’s physical and emotional well-being,” Sánchez said.