Authorities of San Juan Province in Argentina are becoming increasingly concerned over the rapid growth of illegal gambling sites on the internet.
Juan Pablo Medina, Director of Caja de Acción Social (CAS), addressed the problem of illegal gambling online during the interview on the show Café con Martínez. According to him, the major disadvantage lies in these platforms allowing any person to gamble, hence it becomes quite difficult to track who is engaging in online gambling.
Medina said:
Physical gaming halls do not allow minors to enter; however, on illegal online sites, they can bet without any type of control.
Coming to the point, more appearance of minors in gambling activities has made the scenario more evident. Now, the officials are implying the importance of educating the youth about the dangers of gambling. Apart from this, Medina also warned that gambling is not a stable source of income whereas the risk of its harm is significantly higher than the chance of it being a source of financial stability.
He emphasized:
It is not a way of working; it is not a stable source of income; and there are far more chances that it will cause harm.
Government officials are planning to escalate their collaboration with other government entities in order to resolve the problem. CAS believe that after the thorough enactment of the laws regulating online gambling, it will be quite easy to go after illegal sites.
San Juan has passed a law focused on regulating online gambling under its jurisdiction. The law aims at preventing illegal betting, encouraging responsible gambling, and mainly addressing the issue of problem gambling among young people.
On the other hand, the law was passed more than a year ago but it is hardly being put into practice. CAS team remarks that the regulation is pending the green light from the Ministry of the Economy, Finance, and Treasury before it can be forwarded to the provincial government for the final act.
When it becomes operative, the regulation will permit the formation of a task force comprising judicial bodies and provincial security forces. Medina mentioned that this team will be armed with significantly more potent tools to locate and dismantle these covert gambling operations.
The rolling out of the law is also anticipated to pave the way for the establishment of a mechanism that can gauge the actual consequences of internet gambling in the province. The officers underline the necessity of obtaining correct statistics in order to design programs targeting the reduction of illegal gambling.
Making regulation of the law is top on the agenda of San Juan. The power holders foresee that besides enhancing the level of surveillance, proper enforcement will prove instrumental in tackling the social problems being caused by the unregulated online gambling.
