Salta's Chamber of Deputies has given initial approval to a bill aimed at preventing youth gambling addiction and raising awareness about the risks of online betting among minors.
The legislation, authored by Deputy Edgar Domínguez from the San Martín department, now moves to the provincial Senate for review.
The bill would require education authorities to run ongoing awareness campaigns and integrate gambling-related content into school curricula, including teacher training programs. It also calls for coordination with sports clubs and civil society organizations, promotes responsible use of technology among young people and establishes financial penalties for operators that market gambling products toward minors. Municipalities would be invited to join through an adhesion mechanism.
Domínguez, citing UNICEF data, said 60% of children in Argentina have accessed online gambling sites at some point, while 80% have been exposed to advertising for those platforms.
He said: "We can't normalize that a 12-year-old learns to bet before anything else. The bill seeks to prevent, raise awareness and protect the rights of our youth so they can develop safely."
The floor debate was not without friction. Legislator José Gauffin acknowledged the scale of the problem but drew attention to what he described as a fundamental inconsistency. He noted that the Salta Provincial Government authorized online betting platforms, including Betponcho and Bet Warrior, back in 2023, ahead of any structured prevention effort.
He said: "Online gambling is moving much faster than the state can regulate. The state itself is part of the problem."
He proposed adding an amendment requiring the government to publish an annual report on the impact of gambling, to be submitted to the legislature each year.
Gauffin also flagged influencer-driven advertising as a growing vector for reaching young users. He added: "It's a battle that's hard to win because the reach is enormous and implicit advertising is getting to our kids."
Earlier this year, casino employees in Salta staged a protest after months of delayed salary payments
