Mexico strengthens anti-money laundering rules for betting and contests
Mexico's Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público) published new general rules for the Federal Law for the Prevention and Identification of Operations with Illicitly Sourced Funds, through which the Government seeks to strengthen the national anti-money laundering system and adapt it to the international standards of the Financial Action Task Force. The change has a direct impact on so-called vulnerable activities, which include games with betting, contests, and raffles, in addition to sectors such as real estate, jewelry, art houses, vehicle distributors, and virtual asset operators.
One of the main changes is the incorporation of the risk-based approach as a guiding principle for compliance, from which obligated parties must identify, assess, classify, and document the risks associated with their clients or users, operations, products, services, operational channels, and geographical areas. For the gaming industry, this implies moving from general controls to mechanisms adjusted to the risk level of each operation and client profile, while the Ministry itself will apply this approach in its supervision tasks, concentrating resources on sectors and activities with higher exposure to money laundering.
The new provisions reinforce customer due diligence obligations and incorporate greater demands regarding the identification of beneficial owners and politically exposed persons, in addition to strengthening internal control mechanisms, information retention, and the submission of notices to authorities, with the aim that operators can more accurately detect operations that may be related to illicitly sourced funds. Games with betting, contests, and raffles are already part of the catalog of vulnerable activities, with identification and reporting obligations linked to the amounts of the operations.
According to the regulations, the identification threshold for these activities is 325 units of measurement and update, equivalent to approximately 38,126 pesos, while the threshold for submitting a notice is 645 units, about 75,665 pesos. The legislation also establishes a limit for the use of cash, as in the acquisition of tickets, chips, or instruments that allow participation in games with betting, contests, or raffles, as well as in the payment of prizes, cash operations above 3,210 units, equivalent to about 376,565 pesos, cannot be accepted. Hacienda indicated that implementation will be gradual, with the aim that obligated parties can update their internal processes and develop the necessary capabilities to comply with the new provisions.
Tags: Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, AML rules in Mexico, risk-based approach, vulnerable activities