Buenos Aires province lawmakers have formally presented a bill to regulate online betting, requiring operators to pay 3% of prizes each month into a fund for neighborhood clubs and athlete scholarships.
Of that contribution, 85% would go to nonprofit clubs, community development societies, cultural centers and retirees' centers, and 15% to scholarships for high-performance athletes. Athletes with contracts with betting companies would be excluded.
According to Facundo Tignanelli and Micaela Olivetto, both from the La Cámpora party, operators would also have to allocate 100% of their advertising spending to a mental health fund.
The bill requires facial verification at every login, closes sessions after 60 minutes and blocks users after three logins per day, with immediate self-exclusion. Advertising would need prior authorization and would be banned in public spaces and when aimed at minors. Bonuses and free bets would be prohibited, and a license would be revoked if a minor places a bet.
A Specialized Prosecutor's Office for Illegal Online Betting would be created within the provincial Attorney General's Office, and judges could order illegal sites blocked within six hours. New licenses would require 100% national capital, while foreign licensees would have to keep revenue in the province for at least six months.
Facundo Tignanelli, President of the Unión por la Patria bloc in the provincial Chamber of Deputies, said: "Great interests are being touched, it is a fight that needs to be fought and we are going to carry it forward."
He said official licensees handle $1.6bn in monthly wagers on average, with gross revenue near $70m, and that about 85% of their capital is foreign.
The bill is one of 23 proposals on online betting currently before the provincial Chamber of Deputies. Committee debate is scheduled for next week, while lawmakers could vote on the bill on October 20 or postpone the vote until November. Provincial lottery chief Gonzalo Atanasof is scheduled to appear before lawmakers on October 19.
Governor Axel Kicillof announced in early September a 2% levy on online betting prizes by decree, and lawmakers questioned it because the gambling commission Olivetto chairs was already drafting broader legislation.
A study by SEDRONAR, Argentina's drug policy agency, cited by the Buenos Aires legislature, found that 26.2% of secondary school students bet money in the past year
