Mexican court backs Bet365 and Betano operator over block

A federal appeals court in Mexico City has ruled in favour of Ganador Azteca, the Mexican company that runs Bet365 and Betano in the country, in its fight against the government's block on both sites. The sites are not back, though. The ruling still has to be published on the court's notice lists and then complied with by the Interior Ministry (Segob), and players' balances remain frozen.

The 23rd Collegiate Court in Administrative Matters of the First Circuit decided the case at its session on 22 October 2026, El CEO reported. Ganador Azteca was challenging a district judge's refusal to grant it a definitive suspension, a form of interim relief in an amparo (Mexico's constitutional injunction suit) that would halt the block while the main case runs. Rapporteur Martha Fabiola King Tamayo amended the draft she had presented at an earlier session, after inaccuracies had left it incomplete. Magistrate Itzell Martínez Martínez said she voted for the company after the draft dropped a reference to an alleged criminal investigation file opened against the platforms, which she said had no concrete bearing on this case.

What the ruling changes, and what it doesn't

La Crónica de Hoy and Mexacasino report that the court found Segob acted with "illegality and arbitrariness" in blocking the sites. That wording follows the company's defence, which argued that no inspection visit, fine or formal finding of non-compliance came before the block. The written ruling has not been published yet, and this is not the end of the case: it is an appeal decision at the interim-relief stage, and Segob still has to comply with it.

As of 23 October, no return date had been announced, and neither platform had issued a statement, according to Expansión and La Crónica. Expansión adds that there is no official word on when users can deposit, bet or withdraw again, and that their money stays frozen under measures taken by the financial authorities. That freeze is a separate matter from Segob's suspension of the sites.

How it got here

On 11 November 2025, the Finance Ministry's Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) named 13 casino permit holders over suspected money laundering, Ganador Azteca among them, and Segob ordered their platforms suspended. Bet365 and Betano went dark in Mexico on the morning of 13 November. Mexacasino's timeline shows that a district judge granted provisional relief on 28 November to bring the sites back. The 11th Collegiate Court revoked it on 3 December, citing the Amparo Law's bar on relief that keeps gambling operations running. That left the company only with control of its domains and the right to post information on them, without taking bets.

In March 2026, Second District Judge Germán Cruz Silva granted the amparo on the merits. He found that Segob's Gaming and Draws Directorate (DGJS) had breached the company's rights to a hearing and due process. In court, the DGJS had said Ganador Azteca was picked at random from the firms the UIF flagged as higher risk. The sites nonetheless stayed offline; La Crónica cites a check on 18 October that still showed Bet365 suspended in Mexico.

In Mexico, Bet365 and Betano ran under Ganador Azteca's federal gaming permit, which Mexacasino dates to 2018. The case belongs to the permit holder, not to the international brands. El CEO and Mexacasino also report that Ganador Azteca has started a voluntary concurso mercantil (insolvency reorganisation) at the First District Court for Commercial Insolvency. That process runs separately from the amparo.

TV Azteca, part of the same Grupo Salinas as Ganador Azteca and so not a neutral source, reported the ruling on the night of 22 October. It said the UIF had put Ganador Azteca and its operating company on its blocked-persons list, and that users' funds had not yet been released. Its coverage, including an April 2026 post from its news account embedded in the story, frames the block as political retaliation. That is its position, not a finding of the court.

What it means for players

In our view, the ruling opens a legal route back for the two brands but changes nothing in practice yet. There is no restart date, Segob has to comply first, and frozen balances depend on a separate financial block. If you had money with Bet365 or Betano in Mexico, rely only on the brands' official Mexican channels for news. Treat any offer to "unblock" an account or release a balance for a fee with suspicion.

For other Latin American markets, see Peru's draft online betting rules and a court-versus-regulator fight in Brazil, where an appeals court suspended Stake's injunction.