'Addiction Is Not a Game': Mexico Task Force Declares War on Pinball Machines Rafa Fernandez de Castro - Fusion
go to original March 6, 2015

After nabbing two of the country’s most wanted drug lords, the Mexican government has set its sights on its next priority target: pinball machines.

Acting on orders from the Ministry of the Interior (SEGOB), a task force of riot police with shields and Kevlar vests accompanied by state investigators with really sharp pencils raided a string of pharmacies, grocery shops, street vendors and bus stations to seize 520 slot and pinball machines in Mexico City. The crackdown was part of the government’s new anti-gambling campaign called “Addiction is Not a Game.”



Over the past few days, the cops have hit a total of 17 businesses and arrested four people. The government claims its concerned that so-called “tragamonedas” — or coin-swallowing machines— are rigged to swindle minors out of their hard-earned money. But the government, too, feels cheated because the machines’ owners don’t pay taxes on their coin-haul.

“Child addiction to these machines can cause school desertion, accompanied by violence for the purpose of getting money and generating false expectations of obtaining economic rewards with little effort,” The Ministry of the Interior said in a press statement.

The ministry did not respond to Fusion’s request for comment.

Read the rest at Fusion

Photos: SEGOB and El Universal

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