The Buenos Aires problem gambling commission seeks to unify 27 projects
Twenty-seven files on the table and the obligation to turn them into a single text. That is the challenge facing the Commission on Gambling, Lottery, and Problem Gambling Prevention of the Buenos Aires Chamber of Deputies, which this week resumes its meetings with a packed agenda and a tense political context.
The number reflects only a part of the accumulated volume. In the last two years, more than 50 initiatives related to online gambling have entered the provincial Legislature, of which 27 were referred to this commission. There are bills, declarations, and requests for information, bearing the signatures of the Civic Coalition, Nuevos Aires, the UCR, UCR plus Federal Change, Union and Liberty, and Fuerza Patria, and the ruling party aims to reach a consensus on a single opinion that synthesizes them and reaches the floor.
The body is recent. It was created in February of this year, constituted at the beginning of July, and is chaired by Micaela Olivetto. Alongside her, Alejandro Dichiara appointed Fabián Luayza, Jazmín Carrizo, Lucía Iañez, Roberto Vázquez, Marcela Basualdo, Juan Pablo De Jesús, Diego Garciarena, and Fernando Rovello. In this second ordinary meeting, the legislators will listen to the authors of each project before beginning to draft the common text.
The content is grouped into five main areas. The first is the entry point: mandatory registration with biometrics and proof of life, designed to prevent any minor from opening an account. The second is advertising exposure, with strong cuts to media and social media advertising, conditions for promotions aimed at retaining players, and a specific prohibition: online slots that are designed with aesthetics appealing to children.
The third area concerns money and time. It proposes blocking minors' virtual wallets and imposing automatic deposit limits and session duration limits. The fourth moves beyond the platform and into schools and clubs: blocking IP addresses of betting sites on school networks and prevention campaigns in sports institutions. The fifth deals with the health response, with permanent helpline services and more specialized centers.
The discussion does not occur in a neutral climate. While the commission tries to organize the regulatory framework, the opposition maintains its questioning of the 2 percent fee on online gambling winnings that the Provincial Institute of Lottery and Casinos established days ago, an overlap that mixes the debate on prevention with that of revenue collection.
Gambling in Argentina is a provincial competence: each jurisdiction defines its regime and its control body, so what the Buenos Aires Legislature decides only applies within the province, although due to its demographic and market weight, it often serves as a reference for the rest of the country. The province enabled its online market a few years ago to a limited group of licensees, and the growth of this segment is what prompted the creation of this commission.
Tags: Gambling and Problem Gambling Prevention Commission, Micaela Olivetto, Buenos Aires online gambling regulation, Protection of minors