CPA warns about teenagers' access to online betting
“It looks like a game, but it’s a trap.” With this phrase at the forefront, the Argentine Advertising Council (CPA) launched a national campaign addressing what is happening with digital betting among school-aged boys and girls.
The campaign does not speak in a single direction. There are messages designed for the children themselves, others for their homes, others for classrooms, and still others for society as a whole. The repertoire mixes conventional advertisements, content creators, interventions, press work, and alliances with various types of institutions. This is not a standalone launch; the entity has been pursuing this line of work since the beginning of the year.
The numbers accompanying the presentation explain the urgency. According to data from U-Report and UNICEF, 8 out of 10 adolescents found it easy to access a betting platform, or they know someone who did so effortlessly. From the same group, 4 out of 10 regularly open a site or app in the sector, and in many cases, they do so daily.
A second survey, by the Humanitarian Observatory of the Argentine Red Cross, measures the consequences. Among those who gambled, one in eight ended up in debt, and seven out of ten described anxiety and discomfort tied to the practice. 47 percent sleep worse and perform less effectively at school. There is also a data point that provides social backing for the campaign: eight out of ten adolescents believe that current measures to stop them are insufficient.
The contrast with the sector's economic performance makes the situation even more uncomfortable. Private estimates cited in the same report indicate that, in the first seven months of 2026, what ARCA collected from this activity was 40 percent higher than the previous year, with the peak occurring between June and July.
The CPA is a non-profit civil association that brings together advertisers, agencies, and media outlets to produce public service campaigns using spaces donated by the advertising industry itself, a format that allows it to reach a national scale without paid advertising. In Argentina, gambling is regulated jurisdiction by jurisdiction, without a national law that unifies criteria on minor access, and this void is what the campaign seeks to compensate for through awareness.
Tags: Argentine Advertising Council, online gambling among adolescents, public service campaign, Argentine Red Cross