Argentine Government to allow online gaming

In a reverse of policy the Argentine government is now planning to allow online gaming but in a regulated environment. At the end of last year the Government stepped in to stop online gambling by revoking a license that it had already issued to the Argentine company Formoapuestas despite the fact that it was supposed to be valid until 2020 and had been operating with it for three years. Now less than one year later presidential cabinet chief Anibel Fernandez announced that they were working hard to get a law passed before the end of the year while also recognising that it may take up to two years to complete the process. The reason given for the u-turn is to combat the already existing unregulated and unlicensed online casinos that are operating. The US has tried rather unsuccessfully to ban its residents from online gambling but players from the country continue to rise so with this background Argentina chooses to protect its citizens by regulation. The fact that this action might generate considerable income to support the Governments fiscal status was not mentioned. The Government has recently acquired the rights to broadcast soccer matches and insiders believe that the decision might have been influenced by the need to finance the venture. When question at the Council of Americas conference Fernandez said “That’s another subject” thereby neither confirming nor denying the rumour. With each province having its own rules at the moment and knowing that preventing online gambling would be a tough task, the move seems fairly sound.