Gambling Licence in Mexico (2026): SEGOB Permits, 50% IEPS

A gambling licence in Mexico is a SEGOB permit held by a Mexican company; there is no online licence you can apply for from abroad. New permits now run for at most 15 years with no extension, the federal gaming tax (IEPS) has been 50% since 1 January 2026, and foreign sites that serve Mexico without a permit now owe that 50% on every peso players send them, with no deduction for winnings. Those three facts decide almost every Mexican entry plan we see, and most guides still get at least two of them wrong.

Operators arrive expecting one online licence, a fixed fee and a few weeks’ wait. Mexico works differently at every step. This guide covers the 2026 rules: who can hold a permit, what the 2023 decree changed, the tax stack after the 2026 Economic Package, the AML deadlines landing this November, and how foreign groups really get in.

Is there a gambling licence in Mexico? The legal answer

Legally, Mexico starts from prohibition. Article 1 of the Ley Federal de Juegos y Sorteos, published in the DOF on 31 December 1947, bans games of chance and games with bets throughout the country. Article 2 then allows sports, races and certain games, plus draws (sorteos). Article 3 gives SEGOB the power to regulate, authorise, control and supervise any game involving bets, and Article 4 says no place where betting or draws happen may open or operate without a SEGOB permit. That permit, the permiso, is what the market calls a “Mexico gambling license”.

The detail sits in the Reglamento of 17 September 2004, last amended on 16 November 2023. Of its permit categories, two matter for most operators: centros de apuestas remotas, or remote betting centres (sportsbooks, also called libros foráneos), and salas de sorteos de números o símbolos, the number-draw halls that house casino-style play.

Online play has a narrow legal basis. Article 85 allows establishments to take bets via internet, phone or electronic means. The operator must run a written internal control system that prevents manipulation and records the player’s account and identity plus the date, time, transaction number, amount and selection of every bet. SEGOB must approve the betting mechanics in advance. Article 86 adds that online bets count as paid only once a banking institution confirms payment. So the website is an authorised channel of a permitted establishment. There is no licence you can hold for the website alone. The full online mechanics, including platform and payment requirements, are in our guide to running online betting under a Mexican permit.

What the November 2023 decree changed, and why older guides are wrong

The decree published on 16 November 2023 took effect the next day. We read the amended text in the DOF. It changed five things that matter to anyone planning an entry in 2026.

Two points get missed. First, “25 years, extendable by 15” is out of date: under the Second Transitory Article, permits above the new cap were cut to 15 non-extendable years, which puts November 2038 on the calendar for every grandfathered permit that exceeded it. Second, the Fourth Transitory Article cancelled any operator authorisation not running a working establishment when the decree took effect. The sub-licence model foreign brands relied on for a decade has no future under the current text. Greenberg Traurig’s reading matches ours.

Who can hold a Mexican gambling permit

After the 2023 amendments, Articles 21 and 22 ask much more of an applicant. Beyond proof of Mexican incorporation and legal representation, the file must include:

• Name, nationality, address and photo ID of every shareholder. SEGOB’s permit database is meant to trace ownership up to the last shareholder or beneficiary.
• A sworn statement that no shareholder has been convicted of intentional property, tax, organised-crime or money-laundering offences.
• A location and financial-viability study covering the first ten years of operation, with every projection backed by stated assumptions.
• A favourable opinion from the state and the municipality or borough, plus their construction and operating authorisations.
• Proven experience in running the betting or draw activity, an operating rulebook, a promotion programme and a staffing plan.

Once the permit is granted, Article 29 requires a surety bond covering unpaid prizes for 60 days of average annual operation, filed within three days of the permit taking effect. The bond is kept for the life of the permit and updated with audited financials. The full document pack, with the fit-and-proper detail, is in our Mexico permit requirements checklist.

Mexican gaming is federal, but no establishment opens without state and local consent, so local politics count as much as SEGOB when choosing a location.

How foreign operators actually enter in 2026

Once the law is clear, the route becomes a structuring decision with three real options.

The permit-holder route is how most international brands reach Mexican players, but after 2023 it must be a real commercial and technical supply relationship, and simply reselling the permit no longer qualifies. July 2026 showed why. The DGJS suspended ten online casino domains that were operating under permits held by several authorised Mexican companies, citing suspected money laundering and terrorist financing, as La Jornada and the trade press reported. Brands went dark because of their permit holder’s file. Review the holder’s remaining term, sanction history and AML record as carefully as your own, and build exit and step-in rights into the agreement.

Owning a permit gives you direct standing with SEGOB, but new permits have been rare for years, so budget for uncertainty rather than a date. The third route is not a licence at all. We cover it under tax below.

A permitted operation settles through Mexican banks and specialist high-risk payment providers. Stripe and PayPal do not serve gambling. See how gaming companies open bank accounts.

The 2026 tax stack

The 2026 Economic Package decides Mexico’s economics more than any licence fee. The IEPS reform was published in the DOF on 7 November 2025 and took effect on 1 January 2026. We read the decree text itself. BDO’s analysis confirms the headline.

• IEPS on games with bets and draws: 50%, up from 30% (Ley del IEPS, Article 2, fraction II, B).
• Base for permit holders: total bets, minus prizes actually paid and amounts refunded before the event (Article 18). In practice that is close to gross gaming revenue.
• Base for foreign residents without a Mexican establishment offering games online: “the total of the amounts effectively received from participants… without any reduction” (new paragraph in Article 18). Prizes are not deducted.
• Compliance for foreign platforms: register with the SAT, file and pay monthly by the 17th, and report monthly information. Paying does not create a permanent establishment. Missing registration, payment or filing can lead to a temporary block of access under Articles 18-H BIS to 18-H QUINTUS of the VAT law, carried out through telecom concession holders.
• Corporate income tax: 30% on the Mexican company’s taxable result (Ley del ISR, Article 9).
• Prize withholding: 1% federal ISR on prizes from games with bets, withheld by the payer (ISR Article 138). States add their own prize taxes, for example 6% in Mexico City, and some states also tax players’ betting expenditures.
• Federal participation: under Article 5 of the 1947 law, each permit sets a share of the permit holder’s proceeds payable to the federal government, separate from tax.

Here is what the base difference does to real numbers. Take MXN 10 million received from players in a month with 92% returned as winnings.

At 625% of GGR, a low-margin book cannot operate. Serving Mexico from offshore is now a tax problem as well as a licensing one. Tax advisers including BDO México see constitutional grounds to challenge the 50% rate through an amparo, but no ruling has changed it. Plan on 50%. The full year-one budget, including entity, bond and compliance lines, is in our breakdown of what a Mexican permit costs to set up and run. If the GGR maths is new to you, our explainer on how GGR is defined for tax shows why the base matters as much as the rate.

AML: the November 2026 deadline

Mexican gaming is an actividad vulnerable under Article 17, fraction I of the anti-money-laundering law (LFPIORPI), which was amended on 16 July 2025. Permit holders must identify any customer whose ticket purchase, prize payment or financial operation reaches 325 times the daily UMA, alone or across linked transactions, and must file a notice (aviso) with the authorities from 645 times the daily UMA. The 2025 reform also lowered the beneficial-owner threshold from 50% to 25%.

The updated general rules (Acuerdo 115/2026), published in the DOF on 7 August 2026, take effect on 30 November 2026 and make a risk-based approach mandatory: risk methodology and updated policies manual by 1 March 2027, automated monitoring by 1 June 2027, first annual audit cycle from 1 January 2028. Build any 2026–2027 entry to these rules from day one. Our iGaming AML and KYC guide covers the controls themselves.

What’s changing next

• A new gaming law. On 3 September 2026 SEGOB said it had finished reviewing a reform of the 1947 law focused on money laundering and tax fraud. It goes to the Security Cabinet first and is not in Congress. Earlier announcements produced no law, so treat this as direction rather than a date.
• Enforcement is already running. Alongside the July domain suspensions, SEGOB reports joint investigations into casinos with the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) and the Attorney General’s office. The UIF received more than 200,000 gaming-related reports between January and May 2026.
• The grandfathered cliff. Permits cut to 15 years by the 2023 decree expire around November 2038 and cannot be extended. Any agreement with a permit holder should state which kind of permit you are relying on and when it ends.

The process, step by step

There is no published service-level target, so pace depends on your route and file quality.

1. Route decision. Choose between an agreement with a permit holder and your own permit, including due diligence on the holder’s permit, term and sanction record.
2. Mexican company. Incorporate, register with the Public Registry of Commerce, get your tax ID (RFC) with the SAT and open a Mexican bank account.
3. Ownership and fit-and-proper file. Prepare shareholder IDs, the sworn statements and a beneficial-owner map down to the 25% threshold.
4. Permit or agreement. Either file the Article 21–22 application with state and municipal opinions and the ten-year viability study, or negotiate and sign the permit-holder agreement.
5. Online mechanics approval. Get SEGOB approval under Article 85 for the internal control system, platform and payment flow.
6. Launch compliance. Put in place the AML manual and compliance officer, IEPS and ISR withholding, and state tax registrations. Keep the Article 29 bond current where you hold the permit.

To see how Mexico sits against the other licences on your list, the licence finder filters by market, budget and timeline.

Mexico vs an offshore licence

An offshore licence suits markets that do not require a local licence, and Mexico is plainly not one of them. If Mexico is one slice of a global player base, geo-block it until volume justifies an onshore structure. Our offshore vs onshore gambling licence framework shows how to make that call, and our Brazil guide explains how the region’s other large market went from licensing online betting in 2025 to banning it on 25 September 2026.

The verdict

Mexico is large and regulated, but expensive to enter in 2026. The permit belongs to a Mexican company, lasts at most 15 years, and comes with 50% IEPS on net takings, AML rules tightening from 30 November, and a regulator that switches off domains. In return you operate legally in a market that now taxes and blocks the offshore alternative. With real Mexican volume and a long horizon, that trade can work. Otherwise, geo-block Mexico and build volume elsewhere. In our practice across 300+ operators licensed end to end, the Mexican projects that succeed are the ones that modelled the 50% before choosing a permit holder.

If Mexico is where your brand is heading, we handle the whole route, from permit-holder due diligence and the Mexican company to Article 85 approval and the AML and tax build, with our fees and local costs shown separately. See the scope on our Mexico gambling licence service page, then book a free consultation and we will model your real numbers under the 2026 rules before you commit a peso.

Iryna H.

Gaming Licensing at Vantegris

Iryna H. is part of the Vantegris team, which prepares and files licence applications across 40+ jurisdictions. This article was reviewed by Vladyslav S. (Compliance & Legal).

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This article is for general informational purposes only and is not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional before acting.