Insight
LATAM ONLINE Argentina
Argentina
In Argentina online gaming has been permitted since 2006, but only on a province- to-province basis and there is no national law in place that regulates online gaming. Nor is it likely that a nationwide policy will be enacted anytime soon. Instead, provinces will continue to decide on the future of online gambling in each jurisdiction. At present, seven Argentine provinces are looking at new regulations, while Chaco, Misiones, San Luis, Tucumán, Neuquén, Río Negro, Entre Ríos and the province of Buenos Aires currently allow online gaming
Te governments of Misiones, San Luis and Tucumán run their own online gambling sites (MisionBet, Jugadón and Pálpitos24). Meanwhile Neuquén and Río Negro allow their land based casinos to run online casinos Magic and Del Río). Meanwhile, online gambling is limited in Entre Ríos as the province only allows online gambling via an online version of quiniela. In addition, almost all government sanctioned sites only offer online casino and not sports betting. Te only exception is Pálpitos, in the province of Tucuman, which offers a wide variety of sports betting options from all over the world and allows betting on domestic football matches as well.
Generally speaking, private operators trying to offer their services have not met with much success. For example, in Formosa, Formoapuesta went online in March 2006. Initially a joint venture between Argentine investors and UK-listed company BetonSports, Formoapuestas obtained the licence in the province of Formosa through a government agency called the Institute for Social Assistance in
In 2018, in the province Buenos Aires, prosecutors secured a three-year prison sentence for the person responsible for the organisation and running of the online betting websites
Miljugadas.com,
Miljugadas2.com and
Miljugadas55.com. In addition, the government of the province has obtained more than 130 court orders to block illegal sports betting sites. It has also achieved the blocking of credit cards, virtual wallets and bank accounts.
Formosa (IAS). However the IAS revoked its licence shortly afterwards.
Provinces in the future will probably opt to run online gaming services themselves via provincial lotteries or via a third-party.
CONTROVERSY CONTINUES Online gaming continues to be a
controversial issue. In 2017, the Buenos Aires prosecutor’s office ordered that the online gambling site in Misiones be closed, arguing that it operated in contravention of local gaming laws. Authorities had requested the closure after a bet had reportedly been made via the site within the city limits of Buenos Aires, whereby a total of $460m pesos was embargoed in the bank accounts belonging to those responsible for the site.
In December 2017, a court in Buenos Aires unblocked the website as experts were able to prove that the site blocked bets made outside of the province and was able to locate precisely where in the country, or in the world, the bet was being made and block it when appropriate. Specifically, the judge also found that there were
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sufficient player identification measures in place to identify that the player was not making bets from within the city limits of Buenos Aires. Te site is now open, but may only be accessed via computers located in the province.
In addition, local authorities have been cracking down on online operators operating without a licence. In 2018, in the province Buenos Aires, prosecutors secured a three-year prison sentence for the person responsible for the organisation and running of the online betting websites
Miljugadas.com,
Miljugadas2.com and
Miljugadas55.com. In addition, the government of the province has obtained more than 130 court orders to block illegal sports betting sites. It has also achieved the blocking of credit cards, virtual wallets and bank accounts.
BUENOS AIRES Significant process is being made in
the province of Buenos Aires and the capital with online gambling scheduled go live in both soon.
Te government has historically been opposed to opening up the online gaming industry but needs to raise additional income in the face of another economic crisis. Argentina’s currency crisis is getting worse despite action by policymakers and a $50bn financial package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Te peso has devaluated over 100 per cent over the last year and in November Argentina’s Senate approved an austerity budget that slashed social spending and raised
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