Discover Mexico's Thriving Poker Scene and Gambling Laws
Land based gambling is completely legal in Mexico. Even the most unusual form of gambling isn’t banned – cockfighting has a long tradition in the country.
The habit of pitting two birds against each other and betting money on which one wins was brought over by Spanish conquerors. It’s still popular in the country, you can find a good cockfight at any bigger fair.
Evidently, you can find more conventional games of chance as well. Sports betting, casino games and poker are all available for Mexican residents. The biggest casino is in the popular tourist destination, Tijuana, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.
As for poker, Mexico hosted WSOP International Circuit events in 2019. Latin American Poker Tour events were scheduled to take place in 2008 – however, they were inexplicably broken up by local police.
Famous Mexican Poker Players
Juan Carlos Alvarado currently sits on top of the Mexican all time money list on Hendon. He has cashed for over $4.45 million in live tournaments during his career.
In August 2012, he came in 2nd in the €50,000 Super High Roller at EPT Barcelona for €788,674. He lost the heads-up battle for the title to Dan Smith. That is his biggest single live tournament cash to date.
Alvarado also has an impressive online tournament resume. Under the screen name “JC Alvarado” on PokerStars and “PrtyPsux” on Full Tilt, he has collected over $1.1 million in online MTT cashes. He won a $1,050 SCOOP (Spring Championship of Online Poker) event for $502,000 in 2009.
Luis Velador is a 2-time WSOP gold bracelet winner. He won the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event for $574,734 in 2008, and the $2,500 Pot Limit Hold’em/Omaha mixed game event for $260,552 in 2010. Overall, he has $2.2 million in live tournament earnings.
Angel Guillen is another World Series of Poker champion from Mexico. He took down the $2,000 NLHE event for $530,548 in 2009.
As for online poker, Tim Cramer, playing under the screen name “Tamiam122” from a Mexican location, has cashed for over $4.2 million in online poker tournaments.
Online Poker in Mexico
Online Poker Legislation in Mexico
In Mexico, the legal landscape for online gambling is a lot more complicated than for land based gambling.
While the General Bureau of Gaming and Raffles regulates land based casinos, they are not expressly in charge of online gambling sites. Despite that, some of their licencees with brick-and-mortar establishments also have online casinos, and thus those sites are also under their purview.
Meanwhile, foreign companies can offer internet gambling services to Mexican residents unregulated. Therefore they have an advantage, as they don’t have to pay taxes to the local government nor do they have to comply with their specific rules.
So, in Mexico, all the major poker rooms – such as partypoker, Natural8, PokerStars, Unibet and many more – are easily accessible to players and are legal to play on.
Best Online Poker Sites in Mexico
Live Poker in Mexico
Live Poker Legislation in Mexico
Land based gambling is legal in Mexico. Licencing and regulation are under the purview of the General Bureau of Gaming and Raffles, which is part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The current legislation pertaining to gambling has been in effect for over 70 years now. The Federal Games and Draws Law was created in 1947.
According to gambling.com’s profile on Mexico, legal casino games have an even longer history in the country. President Lazaro Cardenas first made such a law in 1935. Prior to that, French colonists opened up their own casinos. However, they were driven out of the country during the 1911 Mexican Revolution.
Live Poker Venues in Mexico
In Casino Palace Insurgentes, located in Mexico City, you can find a cash poker room. They have MXN25/25 ($1/$1) and MXN25/50 ($1/$2) No Limit Hold’em tables. Although the rake is low and is capped at a low MXP75 ($3), you have to pay 4.5% of your winnings back to the house when cashing out, according to the tellings of a 2+2 Forum user.
A number of other casinos reportedly have poker rooms. The problem is, they usually don’t share any information about their games on their websites. You either need to contact them directly, or read customer reviews.
Some of the casinos with poker rooms operating are: Casino Life in Mexico City, Palace Casino also in Mexico City, Twin Lions Casino in Guadalajara, the Royal Yak Centro Magno also in Guadalajara and the Hot Casino in Tijuana.
As for tournaments, the WSOP International Circuit held events in Mexico in 2019. The venue for them was the Jubilee Casino in Monterrey, and the buy-ins ranged from MXN3,000 ($120) up to a MXN60,000 ($2,400) high roller.
In December 2008, the Mexican stop of the Latin American Poker Tour was supposed to take place at the Marival Resort in Nuevo Vallarta. However, for reasons unclear to this day, the local authority stepped in and stopped the high-profile poker festival sponsored by PokerStars. Evidently, Mexico never hosted any other LAPT events.
![Mexico [MEX]](/assets/images/flags/4x3/mx.svg "Mexico [MEX]"){kind=small}
