Mexico Targets Casinos for Crime Links, Eyes Online Betting Rules

The Mexican government has suspended operations at 13 casinos after uncovering alleged money laundering, tax evasion, and links to organized crime. The investigation, led by the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP), the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), and the federal Security Cabinet, revealed multimillion-peso financial flows across borders and through unsupervised digital platforms.

Authorities said the probe identified three primary schemes: the use of large volumes of cash, networks transferring funds from abroad into Mexico, and digital operations that concealed the origin of illicit money. The casinos allegedly moved up to MX$50 million (US$2.7 million) through irregular transactions, with transfers to countries including the United States, Romania, Albania, Malta, Panama, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates.

“Some of these establishments operated with millions in cash transactions, transfers to the United States, Romania, Albania, Malta, and Panama, as well as through digital platforms, which facilitated the dispersion of illicit funds, their concealment, and their reinsertion into the Mexican and international financial systems,” the government said in a statement.

Finance Minister Édgar Amador Zamora confirmed that the 13 casinos, located in Jalisco, Nuevo Leon, Sinaloa, Sonora, Baja California, the State of Mexico, Chiapas, and Mexico City, were added to the list of blocked entities “to protect users and prevent these spaces from being used by organized crime.”

Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch described the case as “a new prevention stage,” with the UIF developing early detection mechanisms and artificial intelligence models to identify unusual financial behavior threatening the system. He noted investigators uncovered “tax irregularities, unusual transactions, and transnational financial links that affected the integrity of the financial system.”

The investigation also revealed the use of stolen or misused identities to disguise illicit transactions. Federal Prosecutor Gisel Galeano explained that individuals such as students, homemakers, retirees, and unemployed persons were unknowingly used to channel funds. “Their accounts or prepaid cards were used to place bets with money from unknown sources. The systems recorded supposed million-dollar winnings that were actually immediately transferred abroad,” she said. The funds were later repatriated to Mexico as legitimate business income through mule accounts.

“Mule accounts are one of the biggest challenges for financial integrity today,” said Bernardo Mendoza, Strategy Director, Fintech México. He added that the rise in ‘authorized fraud,’ where victims approve fraudulent transactions, has outpaced traditional anti-fraud tools.

Following these findings, the UIF will file complaints with the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) for alleged money laundering, criminal association, and fiscal crimes. Online platforms and bank accounts linked to the casinos have been frozen.

President Claudia Sheinbaum stated that the Ministry of the Interior, which grants gaming permits, is reviewing all casinos “from the perspective of security and compliance with regulations.“ She added that the administration plans to update the Casino Law to regulate online betting, a sector that has expanded rapidly without sufficient oversight. ”The regulations need to be updated, because when the law was made, they did not exist in the way they do today, and that opens the door to money laundering," she said.

The Finance Ministry emphasized that the operation is part of an international effort to prevent the use of financial systems for illicit purposes, working in coordination with the US Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), as well as the Financial Action Task Force (GAFI).

The enforcement action follows US sanctions against Mexican financial institutions Intercam, CIBanco, and brokerage firm Vector for alleged laundering of drug cartel funds, as reported by MBN. Mexico’s banking association has since pledged to strengthen anti-money laundering controls.

According to the Mexican Association of Entertainment and Betting Industry (AIEJA), the legal gaming sector generates around US$3 billion annually, with more than 400 casinos employing 38,000 people. However, the group estimates that 60% of online betting sites operating in Mexico are illegal.