Mexico: running online casino and betting under a SEGOB permit

A 1947 law regulating 2026 online gaming

The Ley Federal de Juegos y Sorteos dates from 1947 and never mentions the internet. Online gaming is allowed through its regulation, the Reglamento of 2004, which lets permit holders offer games and bets through remote channels under the permit they already hold.

The authority is the Secretaría de Gobernación (SEGOB), acting through its Dirección General de Juegos y Sorteos (DGJS). The DGJS grants permits, authorises the online modality and the domains attached to it, inspects, and can suspend domains; in July 2026 it suspended ten online casino domains operating under permits while investigating suspected money laundering.

• Federal law: Ley Federal de Juegos y Sorteos (1947).
• Regulation: Reglamento de la Ley Federal de Juegos y Sorteos (2004), heavily amended by decree published in the Diario Oficial on 16 November 2023.
• Regulator: SEGOB, through the DGJS.
• Tax authority: SAT, for IEPS, income tax and withholding.

How an online brand hangs off a permit

Think of the permit as the credential and the website as an authorised activity carried out under it. Only a Mexican legal entity can hold a permit, so a foreign group enters by owning or partnering with a permit holder, not by applying from abroad.

Permits cover categories such as remote betting centres (centros de apuestas remotas) and number-draw rooms (salas de sorteos de números). The online operation must be authorised by the DGJS as part of that permit, with the domain registered with the regulator and the servers, player registry and transaction records available for inspection.

The permit model in five questions

What the November 2023 reform changed

The decree published on 16 November 2023 and in force the next day rewrote the Reglamento in four ways that matter to online businesses. It ended sub-licensing, capped permit terms, banned slot machines and tightened location rules for venues.

1. No more operators under someone else's permit. The permit holder alone can run the activity, which closed the common arrangement where a foreign brand operated on a Mexican company's permit.
2. Terms capped at 15 years, with no automatic extension for permits already running.
3. Slot machines banned in any modality for new operations. Dozens of permit holders obtained suspensions through amparo proceedings, and at least one federal judge ruled the change unconstitutional; the litigation was still open in 2026.
4. Distance rules for new gaming rooms near schools and health centres.

For an online operator the first point is the one that changes deal structures. Partnerships now have to be real equity or corporate arrangements with the permit holder rather than a white-label on its permit.

The tax stack from January 2026

The 2026 Economic Package raised the IEPS on games with bets and draws from 30 % to 50 %, and applied the same 50 % explicitly to games offered through the internet or digital platforms, including by foreign residents with Mexican players. Prize withholding and state taxes sit on top.

Mexican taxes an online permit holder meets in 2026

The reform also requires three computer systems: a central betting registry, cash-control records and real-time data transmission to the SAT. Non-compliance can lead to temporary blocking of the service and public listing of the offender.

Anti-money-laundering: the second regulator

Games with bets are a "vulnerable activity" under the Ley Federal para la Prevención e Identificación de Operaciones con Recursos de Procedencia Ilícita (LFPIORPI). That brings customer identification, record keeping and reporting to the financial intelligence unit.

New general rules published in the Diario Oficial on 10 August 2026 moved these duties to a risk-based approach: permit holders must identify, assess and document risks by client, operation and geography. In September 2026 SEGOB also announced it was preparing a legal reform aimed at money laundering in casinos and betting centres.

Will Mexico get a real online law?

Possibly, but not soon. A bill for a new Ley Federal de Juegos con Apuesta y Sorteos, filed in October 2025 to replace the 1947 statute, has had its committee review deadline pushed to 31 August 2027. Until then the permit model and the 2023 Reglamento remain the rules.

Choosing content for a Mexican lobby

SEGOB does not run a supplier licence or a public list of approved games in the way European regulators do. What it expects is that the permit holder controls its platform, keeps complete game and transaction records, and can show the integrity of what it offers, which in practice means certified RNG games and documented return-to-player values.

That makes the aggregator choice a record-keeping question as much as a catalogue question. With a casino game aggregator API you get one integration and a seamless wallet, so every bet and win passes through your own ledger and feeds the betting registry the SAT now expects. Per-game metadata (studio, category, currencies, market) lets you build a Mexico lobby, and a country parameter applies each studio's own territory rules. Mexican players also bet heavily on football, so pairing casino with a sports betting API on the same wallet keeps a single balance per player.

MXN is a native currency on our side, so a Mexican site can run its players in pesos, or be locked to a single currency if you prefer. Demo play goes through the separate getGameDemo launch. Studios Mexican players know, such as Pragmatic Play, Evolution, Spribe or PG Soft, are the kind of content operators ask for first. Catalogue and currencies change continuously; the live list is in the API.

Questions operators ask about Mexico

Sources and last update

Mexico's rules come from a 1947 statute, a heavily amended 2004 regulation and annual tax reforms. We checked each point below against the published texts or specialist reporting in September 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice; use Mexican counsel before structuring a deal.

• Ley Federal de Juegos y Sorteos, published in the Diario Oficial on 31 December 1947.
• Reglamento de la Ley Federal de Juegos y Sorteos (2004) and the amending decree published in the Diario Oficial on 16 November 2023.
• Reform to the Ley del Impuesto Especial sobre Producción y Servicios, 2026 Economic Package, published 7 November 2025.
• Ley del Impuesto sobre la Renta, articles 138 and 139 (prizes).
• General Rules under the LFPIORPI published in the Diario Oficial on 10 August 2026; SEGOB announcement reported on 3 September 2026.
• Bill for a Ley Federal de Juegos con Apuesta y Sorteos (October 2025) and its review deadline, as reported in 2026.

Last reviewed: 24 September 2026.