Legislators in Argentina’s province of Córdoba are fighting to repeal legislation from 2021 that legalised online gambling.
Their protest, made in the name of addiction and addressing youth gambling, may see the modifications made to the law as a compromise.
A total of four licensed operators launched in Argentina's second most populous province late last year, in accordance with the law approved in December 2021.
The dissenting bloc of seven lawmakers in a 70-seat legislature said: “Almost three years after the law was passed, and eight months after the start of the authorisation of the platforms that were awarded this multi-million dollar business, the disaster that the approval of this law has caused is evident.”
Specific evidence was not disclosed by the lawmakers who cited concerns of youth gambling, in what is becoming a common refrain in Argentina.
Officials in the city of Buenos Aires recently announced that they would be tackling youth gambling by banning gaming websites from government provided WiFi networks in public spaces. The city government also committed to enacting a comprehensive bill to combat adolescent gambling by compiling provisions from various projects already on the docket.
The Córdoban legislators wrote that the regulation of online gaming in the province was billed as a means to prevent illicit gaming, but that it was now apparent that the real reason was to make money.
“There is no doubt that the revenue-raising purposes had supremacy over what is established in its Article 4, and that is the protection of children and adolescents."
They used a survey from Opina Argentina, in which 24 percent of respondents said that they think children ages 12 to 16 are most affected by addiction.
The city of Córdoba, for its part, has been trying to block online gambling within its jurisdiction since operations in the province first began in 2023.
Former provincial legislator Orlando Arduh, who helped pen the 2021 law, defended his project, stating that “if the law did not exist, all clandestine websites would function the same or worse. Eighty-four percent of minors who gamble do so on clandestine sites; if you repeal the law, it will be worse.”
In light of his remarks, an agreement on certain regulatory reforms is expected, which would include creating a biometric data registry to help prevent children from gambling, advertising restrictions and a budget for addiction and safe gambling awareness campaigns.