30-second summary
- Morena looks to abolish Mexican gambling laws
- “New comprehensive tax regime” to be put in place
- AMLO to upgrade and digitize Mexico’s entire infrastructure
- 40 million Mexicans do not have bank accounts
In efforts to keep Mexico in line with the first-world gambling market, the social-democratic party, Morena, is looking to update Mexico’s gambling laws, removing them from state assemblies and transferring them to the state, as well as introducing a new tax regime that will be in line with international standards.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (known by his initials as AMLO) and the social-democratic party are trying to improve the standards of Mexican infrastructure through digitization and new CoDI Project.
Morena hopes to update gambling laws
With states in the US changing their laws to allow sports gambling, Mexico is the next country to need to revamp its gambling laws.
At the moment the social-democratic party, “Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena),” is working in conjunction with the PT Labour Party to make up the coalition of social reform in Mexico, sharing their legislative agenda.
The latest news is that Morena has declared that, rather than gambling laws being determined by state assemblies, complete regulatory authority should be reassigned to the state.
In line with its social reform coalition, Morena is focused on introducing a “new comprehensive tax regime” that would include gambling services for sports betting, casino, and draw-based games. The party claims that Mexico needs to conform its taxes to international practices, which it feels that national stakeholders have overlooked. If this passes, it would end the state/provincial autonomies for regulating tax collections and gambling services.
AMLO wants to digitize Mexico
The Morena-PT coalition is in communication with AMLO, and early this year they announced the launch of the “CoDI project.” This is an eight-point public-private action to improve Mexico’s financial sector that will renovate Mexico’s business and commercial industries.
AMLO is currently looking to digitize Mexico across the board, as recent headlines have suggested that up to 40 million Mexicans do not have bank accounts.
An economic analyst and spokesperson for Banorte, a Mexican banking and financial services holding company, commented on the CoDI project: “We applaud the efforts of the federal government to boost the financial sector. In this context, Mexico is still among the countries of Latin America with one of the lowest levels of financial penetration.
“In our opinion, the measures announced today will help to increase penetration by allowing the entry of a greater number of users of banking services, which will eventually also help reduce informality.”
AMLO has said that his presidency will improve Mexico’s infrastructure through the development of state governance, banking systems, and tax collection, with the fight against corruption still fresh in his mind. With gambling seen as a method of money laundering, it will be interesting to see what regulations are proposed in the wake of any new government-backed agenda, including the possibility of a new regulatory body.
