Overview
- A joint operation by the State of Mexico prosecutor’s office, the Defense Ministry and the National Guard removed more than 3,300 illegal slot machines in raids across 84 municipalities during a sweep from July 11 to July 20.
- Authorities recovered roughly 9 million pesos in coins from the machines and estimated the devices’ commercial value at about 50.6 million pesos while counts and inventories continue.
- Officials say criminal groups planted the machines in pharmacies, shops and malls, used extortion to force placements, collected proceeds and lent money to users so unpaid debts could be converted into forced criminal work.
- Investigators seized a clandestine assembly workshop in Tultitlán, expanded custody capacity for evidence at multiple collection centers, and announced plans for asset‑forfeiture procedures, prosecutions and eventual destruction of the machines.
- Local reporting shows some mall landlords tolerated the devices by leasing space to operators despite the federal ban on unpermitted gambling, a practice prosecutors link to normalized youth exposure and local spikes in violence.