Permit holders pay a federal 'participación' (aprovechamiento) of 1-2% of income depending on bet origin and permit type — generally 2% on horse/greyhound tracks and 1% on national/international sporting events. Application and annual fees are not transparently published; figures rest on advisory sources.
Jurisdictions › Mexico › Licence fees
Mexico · Question 04 of 11
Licence fees: What do the licences cost?
Mixed · Uncertain · Not reviewed · 3 post-review updates · Not reviewed · Back to full Mexico report →
Key section parameters
| Jurisdiction | Mexico (MX) |
|---|---|
| Regulator | Recorded in register |
| Favourability | Mixed |
| Confidence | Uncertain |
| Review status | Not reviewed · 3 post-review updates · Not reviewed |
| Last collected | 18 Oct 2026 |
Summary answer
Permit holders pay a federal 'participación' (aprovechamiento) of 1-2% of income depending on bet origin and permit type — generally 2% on horse/greyhound tracks and 1% on national/international sporting events. Application and annual fees are not transparently published; figures rest on advisory so…
Not reviewed Information added after the 2 Sep 2026 expert review — published for currency and labelled not reviewed.
The federal IEPS excise tax on juegos con apuestas y sorteos (gambling and lottery games) was raised from thirty percent to fifty percent of gross gaming revenue by decree published in the Diario Oficial de la Federacion on 7 November 2025, effective 1 January 2026. Liability under the revised rate extends to non-resident operators offering digital gambling services into Mexico, meaning the increase applies regardless of whether an operator holds a domestic land-based permit or serves the market purely online from abroad. This is a substantial increase to the headline cost of operating in the jurisdiction and represents the single most concrete cost-to-operate development identified this cycle. No new AML/CFT or responsible-gambling compliance-lift development specific to cost was identified beyond this fiscal change.
The cost of operating in Mexico rose sharply this cycle. The IEPS rate on gross gaming revenue for betting and online-casino activity was raised from 30% to 50%, effective 1 January 2026 under a decree published in the DOF on 7 November 2025. This stacks with the existing 30% federal corporate income tax (ISR) and state-level levies of 6-13%, producing a substantially higher aggregate fiscal burden than the prior year. The increase applies explicitly to offshore and foreign operators without Mexican establishment, with SAT empowered to block non-payers, closing off a route by which unlicensed foreign platforms might otherwise have avoided the levy. Combined with new SAT server-access and LFPIORPI compliance obligations landing in the same cycle, the total cost-to-operate picture for Mexico has deteriorated materially rather than incrementally.
The dominant structural cost for gambling operators in Mexico is the Impuesto Especial sobre Producción y Servicios, the federal excise tax applied to games with bets and draws, which industry sources place in a 30 to 50 percent band on gross gaming revenue. That figure carries an uncertain confidence rating: it derives from secondary industry commentary rather than an independently retrieved SAT or Hacienda rate schedule, so no confirmed effective rate can be stated this cycle. Operators should treat the 30 to 50 percent band as directional rather than dispositive and commission direct verification against a primary tax-authority source before finalising financial projections. No new evidence was produced this cycle on AML/CFT compliance lift, responsible-gambling obligations, or technical-certification cost, so those dimensions of the compliance burden should be read as unchanged from the existing baseline rather than newly assessed, and the overall cost-to-operate picture for Mexico remains anchored on the IEPS excise tax pending a confirmed rate schedule.