The explosion of the makeshift bomb sparked a blaze in the casino, but firefighters were able to quickly pull another 20 or so people to safety, officials in Nuevo Leon state said.
Local media reported that casinos in Monterrey have recently been targeted because some owners have refused to pay protection money demanded by criminal gangs linked to the country`s booming drugs trade.
Nuevo Leon state and its capital Monterrey, which is home to four million people, have seen an increasing amount of drug-related violence, with more than 70 people killed in Monterrey last month alone.
Nearly 850 people were killed in the state in the first half of the year, as compared with 278 murder victims for all of 2010, according to a tally done by the national newspaper Reforma.
More than 41,000 people have died in violence linked to Mexico`s organized crime gangs since President Felipe Calderon launched a military crackdown on them in December 2006, according to media counts and official figures. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
