Buenos Aires Governor Signs Off on New iGaming Laws

María Eugenia Vidal, the Governor of Argentinian capital, Buenos Aires, has inked a new regulatory decree that would legalize online gambling in this city for the first time ever.

Since the iGaming legislation, also known as Decree 181, already ed the approval of the provincial government back in December of last year…

…it has now been officially published in Boletín Oficial, Argentina’s government gazette.

So now, Buenos Aires officials have established a new set of rules and regulations for online casino games, which includes slots, sports betting, poker and betting on horse racing.

Details on the New igaming Laws

According to the new gambling regulations, the government of the Argentinian capital will give out a total of seven licenses to igaming operators…

…but will limit them to only one per operator.

The regulatory body that will be in charge of all gambling operations and will oversee the new gambling market will be The Buenos Aires Provincial Institute of Lottery and Casinos.

All operators that would like to get the license to legally offer their services in Argentina will have to meet around 20 requirements.

Also, a specifically established committee will have to give the final word and approve or disapprove the applications for the gambling permit.

The criteria for choosing the right candidates for the operators include, among others, industry experience, financial capacity and data security.

More Rules for the Potential Licensees

All operators that manage to obtain the Buenos Aires license will be taxed at 25% on the total gaming revenue from gambling activities in this province.

It is interesting that the government changed the tax amount that was published under the original version of the legislation that was published in December of last year…

…so now the tax is 10% higher than it was previously announced.

Also, all licensed operators will have to obey the rules regarding gambling marketing. The state gambling regulator will monitor all outgoing marketing materials in order to make sure that everything is done according to the rules.

It is mentioned in the decree that only gamblers aged 18 and over will be able to place their bets and all operators must make sure that they are not targeting minors in any way.

All operators must make sure to have a responsible gambling strategy, they also have to integrate their systems with the self-exclusion scheme and have a system that would allow players to their formal complaints.

If The Operators Don’t Comply…

New operators that don’t respect the gambling law and the requirements issued by the regulatory body…

…will have to face financial penalties first.

But, if they continue their misconduct, they will face the potential loss of their license in Buenos Aires.

The government of Argentina is hoping that those new gambling laws that are being introduced in Buenos Aires will also give the necessary encouragement to other provinces in the state to do the same and adopt their new gambling regulations.

Source:

“Buenos Aires Governor signs off on new igaming laws”, igamingbusiness.com, April 1, 2019.