Corrientes brings gambling addiction prevention to the classroom
While other Argentine provinces debate advertising, levies, and payment methods, Corrientes has chosen a different entry point. The provincial Chamber of Deputies granted preliminary approval to a bill establishing the Provincial Plan for the Prevention of Online Problem Gambling in the Educational Sector, aimed at students in compulsory education across both public and private schools. The bill now moves to the Senate, meaning it is not yet law.
The difference in approach is significant and worth defining clearly. An advertising framework or an access fee regulates operators or of-age users. This bill targets a demographic that, by definition, cannot legally gamble, and does so through the institution in daily contact with them. It is prevention applied prior to the point of access, rather than at it.
The proposal sets out two main objectives: ensuring that students understand what online problem gambling is, the risks it entails, and its consequences; and providing schools with training and tools for early detection of compulsive gambling, addressing it through a comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and individualized approach.
The specific mandate the bill would create is the one with the greatest practical impact on schools. If a school identifies behaviors related to gambling use, abuse, or dependency in a student—whether involving screens or not—it would be required to mobilize its pedagogical or interdisciplinary team and develop an individualized action plan to safeguard their educational continuity and right to education. The emphasis on educational continuity indicates that the proposal also views the issue as a factor driving school dropout rates.
Lorena Lazaroff, the sponsor of the initiative, framed her argument around urgency. In her view, problem gambling is not a future concern but a present reality, spreading "silently" among children and adolescents. She summarized the purpose of the bill in three verbs: prevent, detect, and support.
The figure cited by the deputy to illustrate the scale of the issue warrants clarification regarding its nature. She quoted UNICEF data indicating that 24 percent of young Argentines gamble and bet online—roughly one in four—and noted that exposure to gambling begins as early as age 13. This represents a self-reported prevalence estimate rather than an account registry, and its significance lies in its order of magnitude: if one in four teenagers gambles, their access channel is not the regulated market, which requires age verification, but rather the unregulated circuit that does not.
This is the connection that the bill does not make explicit and that is worth bearing in mind. A school-based prevention plan does not target supply, and underage access occurs outside licensed platforms. The anticipated impact is on demand and early detection rather than on availability, positioning this tool as complementary to, rather than a substitute for, the enforcement and regulatory measures being debated in other jurisdictions.
The bill has already cleared the Chamber presided over by Eduardo Tassano and must now be considered by the provincial Senate. Until that legislative process is completed, neither the plan nor the obligations for educational institutions will take effect.
In Argentina, the legal gambling age is 18, and identity verification is mandatory on platforms licensed by each province, which hold regulatory authority because gambling is a power not delegated to the federal government. Meanwhile, in the national Senate, a bill aimed at preventing problem gambling and regulating online betting—which received preliminary approval from the Chamber of Deputies in November 2024—awaits consideration, and will lapse on November 30 if no progress is made before the end of the regular legislative session.
Tags: Argentina, Corrientes, Gambling addiction, School-based prevention