Buenos Aires Province Deputy Viviana Guzzo has filed a bill to prevent registered child support debtors from opening or using accounts on authorized online betting platforms.
Under the proposal, those registered in the provincial Child Support Debtors Registry could not open new accounts on authorized online betting platforms, maintain or use existing accounts, make deposits or place bets.
The bill would also cover people held jointly liable for child support debts.
Guzzo proposes amending Law 15.079, which regulates gambling and online betting, and Law 13.074, which governs the provincial registry. The bill would add a new clause to Article 150 of Law 15.079, which already prohibits minors, certain gaming industry personnel, sports participants and Instituto Provincial de Lotería y Casinos (IPLyC) officials from participating in the games covered by the law.
The bill builds on two existing laws. Law 15.589, approved in 2025, prohibits registered child support debtors from entering casinos, bingo halls and licensed gaming venues. Law 15.520, published in the same year, amended the provincial registry rules to allow registration after a single unpaid child support installment, subject to prior notice, failure to demonstrate payment and a judicial order.
In the bill’s explanatory statement, Guzzo said: “The specific objective of the regulation is to exclude from access to gambling carried out by electronic, computer and telecommunication means, commonly known as online betting, all parents who owe child support and do not fulfill the duty they have toward their children.”
The proposal also seeks to expand the restrictions established under Article 5 of Law 13.074. These include requirements affecting banking operations, provincial public bank credit, business financing programs, subsidies, concessions, permits and tenders.
The proposal must proceed through the provincial legislative process before it can become law.
The measure raises questions about whether regulators should be involved in welfare policy and what factors they should consider when designing gambling regulations to protect vulnerable people.
Buenos Aires province amended its child support debtors registry rules in 2025, allowing registration after a single unpaid installment, subject to legal requirements, including prior notice and a judicial order
