Zapopan councilors approved new zoning regulations effectively prohibiting the installation of new casinos on September 27, just three days before they finished their three-year terms of office. New councils in 125 Jalisco municipalities were sworn in on October 1.
Meanwhile, in his first week in the job Guadalajara Mayor Ramiro Hernandez vowed to halt the “proliferation” of casinos in the municipality, saying he would take all legal avenues to bring en end to “practices that hurt society” and “generate corruption.”Legislation passed last year made Zapopan one of the most expensive municipalities in Mexico in which to operate a casino. Casinos owners must pay an annual tax of 2,500 pesos per electronic machine, as well as liquor licenses of more than half a million pesos. Zapopan will earn 9.5 million pesos in 2012 from its slot machine tax alone.