Argentina’s Congress has submitted a bill in order to combat problem gaming through improved regulation of the gaming industry with a focus on protecting children and tightening oversight of the online betting sector.
As stated in the bill, the government considers gambling addiction as a public health issue. In light of this, the Health Ministry and Sedronar have been assigned to coordinate and establish prevention, education, research and treatment programs throughout Argentina.
This bill also intends to limit illegal operators’ ability to access banking services, payment processors, domain registrations and other platforms, including virtual currency providers. Therefore, banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions will too be prohibited from providing services to unlicensed operators; as well, regulators will now have the authority to shut down website domains associated with gaming.
There will also be restrictions on advertisements for illegal operators. Unlicensed operators will not be able to advertise on broadcast networks, radio, social media, the internet or internationally. All licensed casinos must have adequate systems in place to verify the ages of the gaming guests that enter their premises and exercise additional safeguards to protect minors from gambling.
There will also be a criminal penalty for operating an illegal igaming platforms and for providing any of the above-mentioned essential services to unlicensed gaming operators.
The bill is coming at the same time as a national discussion on how to regulate online gambling and the impacts associated with it.
