Argentina’s iGaming Regulation Process Runs into a Stalemate

Last week, the launch of regulated online gambling in Argentina was shot down after a temporary suspension of license approvals by a federal judge. This is such a huge blow especially because it’s been two years since the then governor, María Eugenia Vidal approved a regulated gaming legislative amendment to expand to interactive gambling.

Back in 2018, when Vidal was governor, the okayed online gambling laws were to keep the activity within the City of Buenos Aires to ensure that there’s no black-market gaming and to rake in tax proceeds for the country’s capital city. As such, prospective online gambling operators had been applying for Argentinian licenses via the state regulator, LOTBA (Loteria de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires) since 2019.

Moreover, earlier in February this year, the LOTBA even released a memo that outlined how they planned to roll out online casino and sports betting in the capital, as an independent operation base for online gambling in Argentina. The country’s gaming regulator was to accept a broad range of online products such as poker, blackjack, roulette, slot machines, baccarat, lottery, sports betting, and virtual sports.

Land-Based Casino Owners Take to the Courts

Just when the process of vetting and issuing licenses to prospective online operators was about to start, land-based operators in the city took to the courts. Two plaintiffs, Ricardo Benedicto and Federico de Achával, as named by a local daily filed a petition to halt the licensing process. It’s easy to assume that the petition was based on the fear that land-based gaming facilities would end up losing their customers to the more flexible internet gambling sites. However, it’s not that simple if we consider two factors.

For one, the LOTBA has some air-tight anti-monopolistic laws that prevent land-based operators from expanding to offering internet gaming services to prevent them from monopolizing the market. This meant that now, land-based and riverboat casino facilities can’t apply for an online license. Secondly, since physical casinos in Buenos Aires were forced into closure because of the pandemic that we’re currently facing, it means that local operators no longer have revenue streams.

Therefore, the fact that physical gambling operators can’t apply for entry into the online gambling market indeed means that there’s a chance that they’d lose all their patrons since they aren’t currently in operation. This conundrum puts over 500 employees at risk of being jobless, and that’s why the casino owners went to court.

Federal Judge’s Ruling Paves Way for Review of the Law

Initially, the petition filed by the local casino operators had been dismissed by a trial court but the plaintiffs decided to climb higher up the ladder. After filing an injunction against the LOTBA with the federal court, the judge on the case overturned the trial court’s ruling, effectively suspending the license application process.

Meanwhile, there have been talks of expanding the licensing of the internet gaming market across the entire Buenos Aires Province, which could provide more lucrative opportunities for potential investors. Before we think about the possibilities such a move would bring, let’s first wait and see how the suspension unfolds.