Mexico and Bolivia intensified their crackdown on illegal slot machines through operations that resulted in 145 devices seized, one arrest and new investigations into their alleged use as a source of criminal financing. The total comprises 143 machines confiscated in Michoacán and Sonora and another two removed in Potosí and Coroico.
In Mexico, authorities announced on July 26, 2026, that they had executed 10 search warrants in Uruapan, Michoacán. The state Attorney General’s Office, the Public Security Secretariat, the Mexican Army and the National Guard seized 49 mini-casino machines, narcotics, mobile phones and spent ammunition in the neighborhoods of Ampliación San Francisco, San Luis, La Mora, Real de Santa Rosa, Periodismo, Movimiento Antorchista and Los Doctores, as well as on Mariano Matamoros Street.
At the Mariano Matamoros property, officers found seven machines, marijuana and a white granular substance. Miguel Ángel “N,” aged 32, was arrested and placed under the authority of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The state prosecution service was temporarily headed by Israel Vega Rodríguez, while Attorney General Carlos Torres Piña remained on leave from June 22.
Michoacán’s Public Security Secretariat, headed by José Antonio Cruz Medina, also inspected 28 properties in Huandacareo and removed 68 slot machines located mainly outside commercial establishments. The action formed part of Mexico’s National Anti-Extortion Strategy, under Governor Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla.
In Nogales, Sonora, operations began on July 21. The Criminal Investigation Ministerial Agency seized 26 slot machines, eight monitors, eight CPUs and eight clandestine surveillance cameras across areas including Héroes, El Mirador, Del Valle, Moderna, Buenos Aires and Fondo Legal. The operation involved the Defense Secretariat, National Guard, State Police and municipal officers, under the institutional leadership of Attorney General Gustavo Rómulo Salas Chávez and AMIC Commissioner Carlos Alberto Flores.
A broader Sonora count added five machines in Hermosillo and three in Caborca, raising the statewide total to 34 and the complete Mexican tally to 151. The reported figure of 143 includes only the Nogales seizures.
Bolivia intervened at a bookstore in Potosí and a clothing shop in Coroico on July 24. The Gambling Supervisory Authority, led by Juan Bautista Orihuela Urquieta, confiscated one machine from each business. Law 060, Article 28, provides for permanent forfeiture and fines of 5,000 UFV per machine, equivalent that day to BOB16,576.25, under the oversight of Economy and Public Finance Minister José Gabriel Espinoza Yáñez.
