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Mini-Casinos Flourish... but Illegal.
July 27, 2005
The Proliferation of Portable Casinos
Like mushrooms after a rainstorm, they keep spreading. And people like
Francisca Figueroa find them intoxicating. The Ciudad Juarez resident
is among
a growing number of customers who plop their pesos into portable
machines with
the intention of winning money. Initially dropping five pesos into a
"luck
machine" situated outside the fast food restaurants near a
heavily-visited
social security institute hospital, Figueroa was gleeful to eventually
earn 90
pesos. Eduarda Franco, the concessionaire of the luck machine, said she
installed the slot so "children could have fun." Franco explained that
she
divides the proceeds from the day's take with the machine's owner. "But
it's
not a lot," contended Franco. "It's mainly for the people to have fun."
The
small restaurant/slot operator didn't disclose the identity of the luck
machine's owner.
The bad news for Franco and her customers is that the luck machine is
illegal. "They don't have permission to operate," said Alberto Reyes
Rojas,
the director of Ciudad Juarez's municipal commerce department. "(Luck
machines) aren't allowed because they are casino class." Current
Mexican law
permits some forms of gaming like off-track betting and bingo, but
casinos are
still mainly prohibited. Reyes said his inspectors confiscated 200 luck
machines and levied fines of up to $110 dollars on violators during the
last
three months. He added that machine owners can regain their properties,
but
can't reinstall them.
Some say the luck machines are surpassing regular video games in
popularity.
They are sprouting up in places with brisk human traffic like the fast
food
locals near the social security hospital and in mom-and-pop grocery
stores.
Elvira de la Torres, the proprietor of a small store in the Division
del Norte
neighborhood of the city, admitted she has had one of the machines for
the
past two months but didn't know if it was illegal. "People come and
sometimes
they win and sometimes they lose," said de la Torres.
"But it's mainly to have fun."
Sources:
El Diario, July 26, 2005. Article by Pedro Sanchez Briones.
Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
For a free electronic subscription email fnsnews@nmsu.edu
Send feedback to:
Editor, Upper Valley Beacon
© Copyright 2004-2005 Valley Publishing Company: All Rights Reserved.
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webmaster@valleypublishinginc.biz
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