LOTBA focuses on agency network and prepares for Prode's return
The Lottery of the City of Buenos Aires (LOTBA) gathered more than 60 agents from its network to share the main commercial projects for the year and, above all, to confirm one of the most anticipated announcements for the physical channel: the relaunch of Prode with an eye on the 2026 World Cup. The meeting, led by the organization's president, Jesús Mariano Acevedo, marked the return of a historic product to the counters of Buenos Aires agencies.
The call was replicated through Acevedo's own social media, where he highlighted the strategic role of agents within the commercial scheme of the Buenos Aires regulatory body. Together with LOTBA's management team, initiatives that will set the course for 2026 were presented, focusing on innovation, modernization of the channel, and strengthening the bond with traditional points of sale, which remain a central piece in the City's lottery strategy.
Prode returns to the counter
The highlight of the meeting was the relaunch of Prode, a classic of Argentine sports betting that returns to the official circuit through the LOTBA agency network. The initiative is framed within the context of the 2026 World Cup and aims to recover the public's emotional connection with a prediction game that historically mobilized millions of players in the run-up to major tournaments. The product will be available in more than a thousand official agencies in the City of Buenos Aires.
The decision to relaunch Prode is not just nostalgic. For LOTBA, it is a strategic move that combines two commercial objectives: to boost traffic in physical agencies in a scenario marked by the advance of online gambling, and to offer agents a product with high seasonal demand, tied to the World Cup phenomenon. The agency network, as emerged from the meeting, is once again being treated as a central asset of the regulated Buenos Aires ecosystem and not as a channel in retreat in the face of digital.
A physical channel seeking to reinvent itself
The meeting with the agents reflects a tension that affects several lotteries in the region. The growth of the online channel forces a redefinition of the role of physical points of sale, but at the same time opens the door to an integrated coexistence in which agencies function as spaces for proximity, loyalty, and the development of products with territorial identity. Prode, with its symbolic load and its roots in neighborhood quinielas, naturally fits this logic.
LOTBA's move also comes at a time when the Buenos Aires regulator has been strengthening its actions against illegal gambling, with campaigns such as the recent launch of juegosegurolegal.gob.ar. Supporting the agency network and providing fresh products to the physical channel is, in this context, another way to defend the regulated market. The strategy could serve as a reference for other Latin American lotteries seeking to revalue their networks of points of sale in the face of the push from digital operators and emerging online sports betting markets.
Tags: Argentina, City of Buenos Aires, Prode relaunch, Argentine lottery agencies, regulated sports betting Argentina, LOTBA, Prode