Buenos Aires Lottery Institute signs addiction prevention agreement – could it do more?

The Buenos Aires Provincial Lottery and Casinos Institute has formalized a collaboration agreement with Fundación Nexum aimed at expanding prevention, awareness and early detection initiatives focused on gambling addiction among adolescents and young people.

The agreement was signed by Gonzalo Atanasof, President of the Provincial Lottery and Casinos Institute, and Pablo Carrera, President of Fundación Nexum. The initiative seeks to reinforce public policy tools addressing underage gambling, with a particular focus on illegal online betting and its growing impact on youth populations.

Under the agreement, the parties will develop training programs, dialogue forums and awareness campaigns designed to broaden public discussion around gambling-related harm and improve early identification of risk behaviors among minors.

Atanasof said: “We have been developing talks and meetings about an issue as sensitive as gambling among minors. This agreement allows us to add a new ally and strengthen a public policy based on prevention, care and coordination with civil society.”

The collaboration will also promote an interdisciplinary agenda that frames problem gambling as a complex phenomenon requiring family involvement and coordinated action across the education, health, justice, security and government sectors.

The lack of specific operational details raises questions about whether the agreement represents a substantive policy shift or a continuation of existing prevention frameworks already in place.

Representatives from Fundación Nexum said: “This agreement allows us to contribute a plural and responsible approach to a problem that affects all of society and demands collective responses.”

The initiatives are part of the Provincial Plan for the Prevention and Treatment of Adolescent Gambling Addiction, an interministerial program that has been in operation for more than a year as an ongoing public policy effort.