CAOLAB confirms sports betting in Buenos Aires agencies soon
The Chamber of Official Lottery and Related Agents of Buenos Aires, CAOLAB, revealed this week that the sports betting system in physical agencies is already under development and could begin operating in the short term in the province of Buenos Aires. The announcement was made during the inauguration of the entity's new headquarters in La Plata, its own building that the chamber built after decades of operating in rented premises, and which its leaders presented as a symbol of the industry's renewal.
The president of CAOLAB, Marcelo Iglesias, was in charge of announcing the plan. In an interview with Real Politik FM, he described the product as a modern version of the classic PRODE, with football results and basic bets in the first phase and an eventual expansion of markets as the operation evolves. The promise targets a consumer who has been living with the online format for years, but who also demands a face-to-face, regulated, and institutionally backed alternative. The chamber's secretary, Claudio Marino, added that affiliation to the entity is voluntary, that it operates on a non-profit basis, and that the new headquarters was built without debt, in a sector hit by the public's loss of purchasing power.
The incorporation of sports betting appears as a key strategy to sustain the channel's revenue. The leaders admitted that the traditional lottery model is no longer enough to sustain the business and that the network of agencies needs new products to compete with the digital offering. The proposal also seeks to regulate the flow of money: each bet will remain within the circuit regulated by the Lottery of the Province of Buenos Aires, with traceability and tax contribution.
At the same meeting, CAOLAB representatives warned that the main problem in the sector is the growth of illegal gambling. They mentioned that ENACOM cannot act ex officio to stop illegal platforms and that judicial processes are slow compared to the speed with which these sites change domains. Iglesias linked the phenomenon to criminal economies: for him, illegal collection can end up financing drug trafficking and human trafficking, a hypothesis that sector chambers have already begun to bring to legislative offices.
The Buenos Aires proposal is part of a regional trend. In Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Brazil, lottery and agency chambers seek to integrate the online format without losing the physical channel that for decades sustained the community presence of official gambling. The discussion is the same in each market: how to coexist with the digital offering, how to protect agencies, and how to prevent informality from gaining ground in a market where consumers increasingly decide from their phones. CAOLAB's move adds an Argentine chapter to a debate that is shaping the agenda of land-based gambling throughout Latin America.
Tags: Argentina, Buenos Aires, Argentina regulation, CAOLAB, Argentina sports betting, lottery agencies, illegal gambling LatAm