Rafaela joins rollout of Santa Fe's parental control app against underage betting

The municipality of Rafaela has joined the rollout of StopApuestas, a parental control application developed by the Santa Fe provincial government to help prevent minors from accessing online betting sites and other harmful online content.

The announcement was made during a presentation led by Santa Fe Secretary of Technologies Ignacio Tabares, who said the growth of digital environments has exposed children and adolescents to risks including online gambling, grooming, cyberbullying and inappropriate content. 

He added that technological tools should complement, rather than replace, dialogue between parents and children.

The application links a parent's phone to a child's device through a whitelist system, restricting access by default and allowing adults to authorize specific websites and applications. 

According to provincial officials, the system currently includes more than 400 approved websites and 200 applications, while also allowing parents to create customized access lists. Additional features include blocking betting sites, limiting access to social media, monitoring device use and sending alerts when unauthorized content is accessed.

Rafaela officials said the municipality has already been addressing problem gambling and other addictive behaviors through local prevention programs and the city's Dispositivo Integral de Abordaje Territorial (DIAT), a public center that provides prevention, treatment and support for people experiencing problematic substance use and other social vulnerabilities. They said StopApuestas will complement those existing initiatives.

The application was developed by Santa Fe's Secretariat of Technologies for Management in partnership with Lotería de Santa Fe and was officially launched by Governor Maximiliano Pullaro on April 27. According to the provincial government, it recorded more than 1,000 downloads within its first 48 hours.