Buenos Aires lawmakers consider online gambling ban and regulatory proposal

Share of gambling activity in Argentina estimated to take place illegally

80%

Buenos Aires Province is considering two proposals on online gambling, five years after the first regulated operators began operating there. Senator Federico Fagioli has introduced a bill that would ban online sports betting and casino games across the province. Separately, the provincial Chamber of Deputies is developing a regulatory proposal that combines 27 initiatives. No voting date has been set for Fagioli's bill, while the regulatory proposal is intended to move forward by the end of the legislative year.

The senator's bill targets Chapter VIII of Law No. 15,079, which would effectively take apart the province's system for licensing online gambling. Under the plan, wagering on sports and casino-style games such as slots, roulette, blackjack and poker would be outlawed, while lotteries and prize draws of the traditional kind would continue. Companies holding licences would have to stop taking fresh deposits and give customers their balances back. Promotions, advertising and sponsorship deals would be forbidden as well.

According to Fagioli, smartphones have made gambling widely accessible and erased the old barriers, and current rules fail to tackle the danger properly. Tomás García Botta, who works at the Argentine law firm MF Estudio Abogados, told NEXT.io that the plans deserve serious attention even though it is unclear whether they will become law. He said measures of this kind could be brought in and approved at provincial level, but asked what purpose that would serve when the province is short of tax revenue. The lawyer also flagged possible legal hurdles for Fagioli's bill, among them the question of whether it would breach the provincial constitution.

García Botta said prohibiting gambling would leave space for the unregulated sector. "If you prohibit gambling, you leave considerable space for the unregulated sector to occupy," he said. "Ultimately, things will be much worse because there will be no oversight, no guarantees, no tax revenue. Nothing."

In the Chamber of Deputies, a different initiative draws on 27 bills put forward in the provincial legislature's two chambers. Its aim is a fresh set of rules to tackle gambling addiction, with a particular focus on children and adolescents. Since February, a legislative committee has been merging the various proposals into one text. Argentine media reports say five main areas are covered: verifying identity, curbing advertising, setting gambling limits, enforcing the law against the illegal market, and paying for prevention and treatment.

The draft would allow licensed operators to be obliged to carry out biometric identity verification, such as facial recognition and checks against Argentina's National Registry of Persons (RENAPER), so that minors cannot gain access. Other provisions would curb advertising aimed at minors, make self-exclusion tools compulsory and let players cap both their spending and their time on platforms. A new prosecutor's office in La Plata would be set up to look into illegal gambling, with authority to block websites and to act against bank accounts used to facilitate illegal betting. Operators might also have to pay into funds for mental health services, addiction prevention, community organisations and grassroots sports. Talks on the legislation are still ongoing, and the political parties disagree over how it would be financed and enforced.

Gonzalo Atanasof, who heads Buenos Aires Province's Institute of Lotteries and Casinos, put the share of gambling in Argentina that happens illegally at 80% in a recent estimate. After a legislative committee meeting on 19 October, he said efforts should concentrate on prosecuting illegal gambling. He further urged tighter supervision of licensed platforms and more instruments for dealing with foreign companies that offer gambling without authorisation.

In García Botta's view, the answer to illegal gambling lies in criminal prosecution and in having more regulated operators that apply responsible gambling measures and make sure they are followed. He went on to say that underage gambling should not be seen as the source of the problem; rather, it follows from deeper breakdowns in control mechanisms, expansion of the black market and gaps in financial and digital education.

The discussion in Argentina has been set off by Brazil, which last month chose to prohibit regulated online betting. With worries about underage gambling still rising, that move has led to demands that Argentina follow the same path.