Buenos Aires regulator wants to discuss advertising with athletes
Two figures provided by the president of the Instituto de Lotería y Casinos de la Provincia de Buenos Aires put everything else he said into perspective. The province has taken over 80 cases of individuals promoting unauthorized gambling sites on social media to court, while more than 56,000 informal black-market intermediaries—the so-called "cajeros" (cashiers)—operate within its territory. The ratio between the two figures is roughly 700 identified cajeros for every criminal complaint filed, illustrating the stark gap between law enforcement capacity and the sheer scale of the problem.
Against that backdrop, Gonzalo Atanasof opened a debate on betting brands on football club shirts and match broadcasts during an interview with local media outlet Infocielo Play. He stated that action must be taken "urgently," including on legal platforms, arguing that betting advertisements should not be tied to personal success.
His chosen focus is specific and should be seen as an invitation to debate rather than a definitive proposal, as he framed it himself. He suggested discussing whether sports figures idolized by young people should be allowed to be the face of a platform, and whether time slots need to be established for broadcasting such messages. These are two distinct issues: who stars in the ad and when it is aired.
The second part of his argument is what sets him apart from most initiatives currently circulating across the region. Atanasof rejected an outright ban on grounds of effectiveness: wiping out ads from authorized platforms does not eliminate advertising; it only erases campaigns from companies under state oversight, leaving a void that would inevitably be filled by the relentless stream of illegal gambling messages reaching mobile phones.
To support his stance, he pointed to the Brazilian market following the restrictions introduced by President Lula da Silva. His assessment is that as long as there are no effective laws or judges willing to act against cross-border operators, placing more demands on the regulated sector is not enough. The data backing this argument is clear: monitoring published by Brazilian industry bodies has flagged over 60,000 suspicious web addresses since the provisional measure took effect in late September.
Regarding informal promotion on social networks, Atanasof offered a nuance explaining why legal action yields limited results. Promoters almost always claim ignorance, a defense he considers credible for an uncomfortable reason: even traditional lottery employees, he noted, struggle to distinguish a legal platform from an unauthorized one. Nevertheless, he pointed out that promoting an unlicensed site constitutes both a misdemeanor and a criminal offense.
Another key factor raised by the official is player demographics, which underpins his concern over sports figures. In land-based casinos and bingo halls, patrons were traditionally 35 to 40 years old and above, whereas the digital format has brought in players between the ages of 18 and 30. This generational shift of over a decade explains why the debate over who appears in the ads is not an aesthetic concern, but one of exposure.
His position thus occupies a middle ground that is worth highlighting, as it is unusual in the regional debate. The regulator of the country's most populous province is not calling for a ban on betting advertising; rather, he is calling for limits on who stars in them and what time they air, while arguing that a blanket ban would be counterproductive. This approach stands in stark contrast to the one Chile's executive branch presented to the Senate a week ago—proposing a total ban on online gambling advertising—as well as the bill currently awaiting debate in the Argentine Senate.
The Instituto de Lotería y Casinos de la Provincia de Buenos Aires is the authority that regulates, licenses, and oversees gambling activities within its jurisdiction, including authorized online platforms and the retail lottery agency network. In Argentina, gambling is a power reserved by the provinces, meaning each jurisdiction establishes its own advertising regulations and authorized operators, without a federal framework setting a common national baseline.
Tags: Argentina, IPLyC Buenos Aires, betting advertising, illegal gambling