A new bill proposed in Río Negro would require every public and private primary and secondary school in the Argentinian province to block online betting sites on their internet connections.
Legislator José Luis Berros presented the initiative, which pairs content filters on school networks with teacher training and prevention work with students and families.
The bill cites two national studies: The Kids Online Argentina study, produced by Unicef and Unesco in 2025, found that 24% of adolescents aged 12 to 17 acknowledged having ever bet money online, and more than 60% of children aged 9 to 17 knew someone who had taken part in online betting.
The Seventh National Study on Psychoactive Substance Use Among Secondary School Students, published in 2025, found that 26.2% of students had bet money or taken part in games involving money during the previous twelve months, and it put the share who had bet online at 20.5%.
Under the bill’s central provision, schools would have to prevent access to betting sites from their connections using content filters, with a gradual rollout that accounts for each school’s technological conditions.
The block would apply only to school networks and would not amount to a general ban on internet access from personal devices connected through other services.
The initiative also proposes a Plan for the Prevention of Online Betting in the Educational Setting. It would include activities on the risks of betting, family participation and tools to identify problematic behavior, while teachers and non-teaching staff would be trained to recognize warning signs.
If approved, the Río Negro Ministry of Education and Human Rights would serve as the enforcement authority in coordination with the Ministry of Health.
A supervision committee with representatives of both ministries, educational technology specialists and members of school communities would monitor the measures and update the blocking systems.
According to the bill’s rationale, a similar initiative was filed in 2024 under file 719/2024 but never received legislative treatment. Berros has now revived the proposal.
The bill’s rationale puts the average age at which minors start betting online at 14.1, with 13 the most frequent starting age
