Argentina’s biggest province of Buenos Aires signed a regulatory decree that paved the way for legalized online gambling services in 2019.
On April 1, María Eugenia Vidal, the Governor of the province of Buenos Aires, signed Decree 181/19 into law which authorizes the provision of online slots, casino games, lotteries and horse racing betting. While not specified, poker will presumably be covered by online casino games. It also allows for betting on non-sports events, as long as they are not of political nature.
In December 2018, following years of discussion, both the Argentinian city and province of Buenos Aires approved Decree 181 in the 2019 Budget. The decree was formally passed into provincial law within a week of the passing.
Argentina’s government has moved to impose a higher rate of tax for online gaming for the next year while passing its most recent federal budget despite the fact that the online gambling sector is not regulated on a federal level. The two most populated jurisdictions mainly the city and province of Buenos Aires are in the process of opening up their betting markets, while there are still other regions that have not been regulated as yet.
It has been noted that the sector generates about $2.4bn annually in Argentina, although not every district has been regulated the country estimates that each province will benefit once they legalise and regulate online gambling.
The Minister of Finance Martín Guzmán has initiated the move which increases taxes on online gambling from 2% to 5%, to be included in the 2021 draft budget. The proposal estimates that 95% of the revenue will be distributed among provinces, while 5% will be invested in technological innovations by Arsat, the state telecommunications company.
In the 2021 budget the government “will check bank and billing data” and identify online bets “when it’s detected in a mobile phone code on a SIM card or in the IP address of the electronic device of the service recipient”. Arsat will collaborate by monitoring the activity.
