Mexico City Draft Would Tighten Gambling Rules and Ban Prediction Markets on Disasters

A draft proposal to tighten player safety rules around gaming and sweepstakes has been presented to the Congress of Mexico City by Deputy Alberto Martinez Urincho, SBC Noticias reports.

The framework governing games of chance and sweepstakes is federal law, so any amendment has to clear a Public Administration Commission before going to the Legislative Plenary. Urincho's stated objective is to define problem gambling as a public health concern and fold it into Mexico's wider public health strategy.

For operators, the draft covers prominent warning messages, stricter identity verification and age controls, and limits on promotions designed to entice players. It also proposes banning prediction markets on political events, global conflicts, humanitarian crises, natural disasters and any other market that violates human dignity. Those are the categories most associated with Polymarket, which currently operates in a grey area in Mexico. Urincho did not attack prediction markets as a whole, only the contract types he considers offensive. In the United States the same sector is fighting states in court, where Novig has sued New York to block enforcement of its gambling laws.

He also singled out mobile access and marketing. "Advertising on social networks and streaming platforms sells the fantasy of easy money, trapping even those under 18 years of age in problematic dynamics," he said, arguing that phones have made gaming and sports betting available around the clock. Elsewhere in the region, Sao Paulo is weighing bills that would ban betting advertising in public spaces.

"We are witnessing an exponential growth of the game in Mexico," Urincho said. "This is not a simple matter of leisure or entertainment. We are talking about a disorder that generates changes in the brain circuits, leading to compulsive behavior despite the serious physical, psychological and social consequences."