Judge orders Ministry of Interior to reactivate Bet365, Betano Mexico
The legal landscape for iGaming in Mexico has taken a significant turn following the recent resolution by the Second District Court in Administrative Matters. Judge Germán Cruz Silva granted an injunction to the company Ganador TV Azteca, a subsidiary of Ricardo Salinas Pliego's media conglomerate, which compels the Ministry of Interior to allow the Bet365.mx and Betano.mx portals to resume their commercial operations. The judicial ruling states that the General Directorate of Games and Lotteries suspended the activities of these platforms without respecting standard administrative procedures, thus violating the fundamental rights to a hearing and due process of the plaintiff company.
The decision grants the federal authority a three-day period to notify the operator that it can resume exercising the federal permit originally granted in 2018. Despite the forcefulness of the ruling, the public administration still has the possibility of challenging the resolution before a Collegiate Court, an instance that will have the final say on whether to confirm or revoke this injunction. For now, this measure represents a legal reprieve for the platforms linked to Grupo Salinas, which have remained inactive for months amidst a complex scenario of financial and regulatory scrutiny.
It is important to remember that these betting platforms have not been able to operate normally since November 2025. On that date, the Financial Intelligence Unit decided to include them in the list of blocked legal entities after detecting financial movements that raised suspicions of money laundering. Although a federal judge allowed the websites to remain visible in December, it was solely for informational purposes, explicitly prohibiting the collection of bets or the execution of any type of economic transaction while the official investigation to determine the origin of the funds progressed.
The investigation weighing on TV Azteca's subsidiaries suggests that the operators may have served as vehicles for the concealment and dispersion of funds of illicit origin, both within and outside the Mexican financial system. Treasury authorities raised alarms by identifying millionaire transfers to international jurisdictions such as the United States, Romania, Albania, Malta, and Panama. According to the official report, economic profiles that did not correspond to the amounts handled were used to transfer funds to the real beneficiaries under a scheme of commissions and the use of unsupervised digital platforms.
For its part, Grupo Salinas has maintained a stance of collaboration with the tax authorities, assuring that its clients' funds are properly protected at all times. This judicial conflict unfolds in parallel with other large-scale tax disputes, as the Tax Administration Service has reported that the business group maintains a debt exceeding 51,000 million pesos. Judge Cruz Silva's resolution marks a critical point in the relationship between the gaming regulator and one of the country's most influential business players, leaving the door open to a legal battle that will be defined in the coming weeks in higher instances.
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