When United States law enforcement cracked down on internet poker in 2011 with the “Black Friday” indictments, many players who made a living playing the online game were faced with a conundrum. Would they move to another country to continue to pursue their livelihood or ply their trade in the live arena? For many the choice was obvious: move to Mexico and continue to play on the major international online poker sites.
Unfortunately, that may be changing for those U. S. citizens who made the move “South of the Border.” The Mexican government is looking at passing new regulations for their live and online gaming industries recently that would take effect in 2015. The bill would have its greatest effects on that online arena, in effect nationalizing it by making sure Mexican players would only be competing against other citizens instead of the international market. The legislation goes as far as to push any potential online gaming company who wants to provide internet gaming and poker to Mexico to locate their servers inside the country and have internet service providers (ISPs) block offshore sites and financial transactions.
The move would have a tremendous impact on several U. S. citizens who have part-time residency in Mexico to pursue their online goals. While the availability of playing against the international poker community was a main draw (the weather didn’t hurt either), the new segregated market that may be coming in Mexico will significantly reduce the number of players.
If it goes into effect, the new Mexican online gaming industry will be a significant test of the validity of “nation specific” online gaming. With approximately 122 million citizens, Mexico is much larger than two countries – Spain (with 46 million) and France (66 million) – that have been at the forefront of the country-specific movement in online gaming. In those two countries, online gaming and poker revenues have been flat or falling, leaving their respective governments flailing to try to recapture some of the grandeur (and, in addition, the revenue) that was produced prior to the nationalization efforts.
Part of the problem with both the Spanish and the French systems has been the taxation rates. Another problem is that both countries have resisted the option of reopening their countries to international player participation, thereby losing out on potential revenue at least from the licensees’ revenues. The ominous sign for Mexico? They are looking at a taxation rate that is comparable to Spain, something that will have an impact not only on players but on service providers.
Poker News Daily contacted online pro Katie Dozier, a member of “The Grindettes” who moved to Mexico to continue her online career, to gauge what effect these changes would have on her. “The problem with trying to plan for the proposed regulations is that everything I’ve heard seems like speculation,” Dozier stated. Dozier is maintaining a positive but realistic attitude regarding her predicament. “I’m hopeful that no regulation will be passed but, if it did become a Mexico-only market, then I would have to move,” she said.
Commentary on the proposed changes in the Mexican market are, for the most part, lamenting the proposed moves. On the Two Plus Two forums, poster ‘mos_shark’ stated, “This should have U. S. pros playing in Mexico shaking in their boots or, at least, considering where to move next. As a Mexican, I can say with all the shame in the world that we have the most greedy, corrupt and ignorant people making/passing laws. If they want taxes, they will get them, period.”
As ‘mos_shark’ continued, he gave an opinion regarding a Mexico-only market. “Simply judging by the amount of actual Mexican players I see in the tournament/sit and go lobbies, I don’t think we have a big enough player pool to sustain a healthy poker economy,” ‘mos_shark’ flatly said. “80% of the population is basically poor…excess “gambling” money (isn’t there). Mexican pros and U. S. players playing on Mexican soil should be monitoring this closely.”