MEXICO CITY, Aug 23, 2002 (El Universal/Corporate Mexico by Internet Securities, Inc. via COMTEX) — The Government Commission of the Chamber of Deputies has received the draft of the bill which would allow the establishment of casinos in Mexico. The draft proposes the regulation of all type of gambling involving betting and lotteries. The document contains 200 articles setting out regulations on roulette, dice, card UFABet games, wheel of fortune, slot machines, numbers games, horse and greyhound racing, cockfighting, frontón, cesta punta and jai alai.The bill is being backed by those who wish to set up casinos in Mexico and apparently some legislators were invited to Las Vegas, Atlantic City, New York and Indian reservations in the United States in order to help convince them of the benefits of legalizing gambling.Armando Salinas Torre (PAN), chairman of the Government Commission, said the invitations were a definite sign that there was a host of outside influences on the legislators and José Antonio Hernández Fraguas (PRI), secretary of the Government Commission, said that any such invitations would only be accepted in the most responsible way.In the presentation of the proposal the legislators headed by Hernández Fraguas estimated that there were around 1,500 illegal casinos in the country, which did not pay taxes.
Venetian applies for online gaming license
A company affiliated with Las Vegas’ Venetian hotel-casino has invested in an Internet gaming operation and is exploring opportunities in Indian gambling.
Venetian Casino Resort Athens LLC has applied for an Internet gambling license in Alderney in the British Channel Islands. Alderney, an island 8 miles off the coast of France, already is home to three licensed Internet gaming firms.
The information was disclosed by the company in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing last week. A company spokeswoman said there would be no further elaboration beyond the SEC filing.
According to the filing, Venetian entered a joint-venture agreement in January “to assess the feasibility of and develop an Internet gaming site.” The filing did not identify any partners.
“We have applied for an Internet gaming license in Alderney, but have not yet established any operations,” the filing says. “We estimate that we are committed to contribute approximately $1 million, approximately one-third of the required capital, to the joint venture during the next year. After recovery of each partner’s initial capital contribution, we will receive 50 percent to 80 percent of the net profit of the joint venture, based upon an increasing scale of net profit (if any).”
The filing said the deal would be terminated if Venetian is unable to obtain any of the required regulatory approvals in Alderney, Nevada or any other jurisdiction.
The company provided no other information on the Indian gaming possibilities in the filing.
The Venetian, controlled by businessman Sheldon Adelson, joins MGM MIRAGE and Station Casinos, both of Las Vegas, in exploring overseas Internet gambling opportunities.
