Argentine operators call for the law to target the illegal channel
Two bills pointing in opposite directions coexist in the same chamber, and which one moves forward will determine where the burden of regulation falls. The Argentine Senate has pending both the bill passed by the Chamber of Deputies—designed to raise the standards required across the entire registry of operators—and the Government's proposal, which is yet to be debated and focuses its firepower on unlicensed platforms.
Industry representatives chose the second path and stated it unequivocally. In statements reported by El Cronista, they pointed out that the main criticism of the bill passed by Deputies is that "the restrictions could fall on authorized platforms, while illegal operators would continue to operate outside regulatory controls," emphasizing that the new requirements "could restrict regulated operators without solving, on their own, competition from clandestine platforms." The ruling coalition bloc agreed on the need to avoid a regulation that impacts formal market players.
The Executive's text is built around criminal law rather than administrative law. For anyone setting up or operating an unlicensed betting system, it stipulates three to six years in prison, and two to four years for anyone providing digital, advertising, or financial services to it. That second tier is the bill's most significant provision: it applies to payment processors, agencies, and technology suppliers, thereby shifting the criminal risk to the supply chain that any clandestine platform relies on to operate. The text is rounded out with tools to take down domains and cut off financial transactions for unlicensed platforms.
The bill passed by the lower house, on the other hand, focuses on communications and advertising. Its Article 8 prohibits the promotion or sponsorship of gambling, betting predictions, sports betting, and online betting, encompassing both welcome bonuses and the involvement of influencers within this ban. The scope is broad: it covers social media and digital platforms, information and communications technologies, audiovisual media, outdoor advertising, sports apparel, and billboards located on public streets or private premises open to the public.
The detail that best illustrates the current state of the debate is the timeline. That initiative reached the Senate in November 2024 and remains undiscussed: in nearly two years, only one of the four committees tasked with issuing an opinion has addressed it. Meanwhile, the Government's proposal has not been debated either. The result is that the country has spent twenty-three months with one bill approved by one chamber, another introduced by the Executive, and neither in a position to become law.
There is a regional convergence worth noting, as the Argentine industry's argument is losing ground in other jurisdictions. The bill recently introduced by the Chilean Executive bans advertising for platforms whether they are licensed or not and outlaws all promotional bonuses, while the Buenos Aires Provincial Legislature is simultaneously debating limits on advertising and bonuses within its own comprehensive framework. In other words, restrictions on the licensed channel—precisely what Argentine operators are urging to avoid—are emerging as the standard in neighboring legislation.
The bill on online gambling advertising passed by the Argentine Chamber of Deputies in November 2024 remains in the Senate, where it must clear four committees before reaching the floor. Gambling in Argentina falls under provincial jurisdiction, meaning that a national law of this nature governs matters such as advertising and criminal law, while operator licensing and revenue collection remain in the hands of the regulatory bodies in each jurisdiction.
Tags: Argentina, Senate, illegal gambling, advertising