The news that the first licensed gaming operation was launched last Thursday in Chiapas, southern Mexico, certainly galvanised conversation amongst the people setting up stands at the Las Vegas Convention Center yesterday. The official launch of the casino in Chiapas was attended by officials, local representatives, businessmen and family members of the operators. Many in the global gaming industry have waited well over a decade for a Mexican gaming law to be enacted, and the market is now opening up on the strength of licences somewhat controversially granted by Secretary of State Santiago Creel Miranda before he left the Government.

Called BINGO 777, the venue has a section for sports betting with a simulcasting system that transmits horse and dog racing from the major racetracks around the world. The betting shop, which opened in October, is the property of businessman Raul Quintana Fernandez and has electronic bingo machines where between 2 and 80 Mexican pesos can be bet by the visiting public for the chance of winning a jackpot.

Rosario Pariente Gavito, the Mayor of Tuxtla Gutierraz (capital of the province of Chiapas), authorized the operational licence and she was amongst the guests at the grand opening. Also present were Government Secretary Roger Grajales Gonzales and Raul Quintana Fernandez, the majority shareholder of Promojuegos de Mexico SA de CV – a subsidiary of the giant media company Televisa that was granted gaming licences by Creel. (E-11.14.06)

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