In a matter of time, the number of countries where gambling is legal entertainment has been consistently growing. Therefore, gambling providers and operators always look for new and promising markets. Login Casino has prepared an article about online gambling in Argentina for those who want to start a gambling business in this region. Find more global gambling news on the website to stay tuned.
South America is the promising gambling market, where the leading providers and operators service the highly active local gamblers. In this article, you can find everything gambling-related about Argentina – one of the most tourist-famous countries. Is it worth opening a casino in Argentina? How to make the gambling business in Argentina 100% profitable?
First thing first, before starting a business in any country, it must be clear what the preferences of the citizens are, what the modern trends are in there, and what cultural peculiarities.
Argentina was firstly mentioned on the global map in 1536. Since that time, that new location has been developing in many sectors and influencing South American history in many different ways.
Nowadays, Argentina is a nearly self-development Latin country with 23 gambling-regulation provinces. Among Argentina regions, the biggest GGR contribution is going from Buenos Aires province (25%). Talking more specifically, Buenos Aires city’s net gambling revenue is 10%. Combining all the regions’ revenues, it is clear that the total GGR is going up from year to year, indicating a good potential environment for stepping into this market. But before doing this, it is worth going through the historical gambling background of this area to get to know this possible potential better.
The history of gambling in Argentina
The first time when Argentinian citizens opened gambling as a type of entertainment was in 1882. The gambling history in the largest Latin county started from horse race betting founded by Jockey Club (Buenos Aires).
The gambling sector began actively developing in the 1990-s. The market was filled with more operators and land-based establishments. However, since 2002, the government has been licensing both offline and online types of casinos.
Despite the regular land-based casinos, another popular casino location is the cruise liners, which are, by the way, attractive for tourists. Nowadays, the number of offline casinos in the country is 200, with over 25 000 slot machines and 1 000 table games.
Structure of gambling in Argentina
Gambling in Argentina is quite diverse as in many other gambling available countries. Casino gaming consists of poker and bingo; the betting sector also offers to place bets on horse races and other sports. Another available type of betting is fantasy betting, and lottery is one more profitable gambling sector. According to the experts’ rates, online betting in Argentina has also been actively developing. The most popular sports discipline to wager in this country is football.
Talking about the regulatory establishment in the country, each of the provinces has its administration, except the city of Buenos Aires, with its gambling regulator.
Gambling laws and regulations in Argentina
Argentina is a federal-model-based country. And that means that each of the administrative regions has its authority. The total number of provinces in Argentina is 23, plus the city of Buenos Aires. However, the local administrations regulate not all of Argentina’s structures.
The criminal sector of the country is under the Argentine National Congress’s competence. This authority is also responsible for civil and commercial law regulation. The interregional gambling approval is also within Congress’s competence. It means that provinces can only set their laws and regulatory actions if the Argentinian government does not ban gambling offerings there.
Making conclusion, Argentina gambling is not allowed if the competent authority does not approve it. This rule has been active since December 2016.
Considering the licensing system, only operators can get licensing. However, the requests in the provinces can be various. For instance, some regions request a full registration before offering gambling products of any type. The city of Buenos Aires also has special rules for gambling licenses like mandatory registration with the revenue reports.
As in many other developed gambling countries, Argentina is not allowed for offshore gambling. For instance, Buenos Aires’s authority (Lotería de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires SE) took strict actions to illegal activity via banning all the operators with suspicious documentation and unpermitted online operating.
Talking about the financial sector of Argentina’s online gambling laws, all the transactions must be performed in Argentine pesos. Other options like cryptocurrency are not available currently.
Online Gambling in Argentina
Buenos Aires is the most dynamic city in the online gambling sector. The authority has taken a course in the development and made the sector of the online casino in Argentina legal. Since the beginning of 2020, the country’s government has approved online gambling.
Gambling regions in Argentina
Argentina consists of 6 regions and 23 provinces. Below you can find gambling regulation peculiarities in each of the regions. Gambling activity is allowed in each region and province; the only difference between these mini-markets is the separate administrative regulators.
Argentine Northwest
Primarily, the most popular land-based casinos are in the hotels. The experts mention high-quality service and a great selection of gambling games. Those who want to start operating in the region should communicate to the regulator to find the size of the administrative fees.
Gran Chaco
Currently, land-based casinos are available for tourists and citizens. So those who wonder if it is worth visiting one of the Argentina regions or not, the answer is yes. And of course, the central part of the casinos is located in the hotels.
Mesopotamia (or Littoral)
The next region on our list is the favorite for the table cards games. The experts mention the extreme popularity of this type of gambling in Mesopotamia.
Cuyo
The wine-producing region of Argentina attracts tourists not only with its incredibly rich nature but with luxury casinos in the hotels, the variety of slot machines choice, and card games.
Pampas
This region includes Argentina’s gambling center – Buenos Aires. As we all know, this city is one of the most famous gambling cities in the country. Gamblers can also find the best online casino in Argentina by visiting this prominent city.
Patagonia
The number of casinos in this region may be surprising even for the most active gambling tourists. The experts mention this region as another promising gambling location in Argentina.
Preferences of Argentina gamblers
A few years ago, the scientific team published research about pathological gamblers in Argentina. There were 62 surveyed people (45 male and 17 female). The survey was based on a questionnaire form consisting of 55 questions.
The average age of the group of gamblers was 48. They started gambling at the age of 25. And starting from the age of 33, they were going through financial problems. It also must be mentioned that all of the gamblers were educated and professional.
Among 62 people, 43.5% said they practiced only one betting gambling, 24.2% started gambling at the casinos. Talking about gender, women preferred slot machines and bingo, while the opposite sex gave their preferences to casinos, horse racing, and card games.
Future of online gambling in Argentina
Argentina’s largest and most profitable gambling province is Buenos Aires, which plays a role as a peculiar center of such entertainment. And 2021 may be considered the most active licensing year for online operators. There were picked seven leading global operators, including William Hill, Playtech, and 888 Holdings. This fact is proof of the developing market of Argentina. Such operators would not have even requested approval to offer their products if the market was not potentially profitable.
The global pandemic has also affected online gambling in Argentina. Because of the anti-COVID-19 measures, the regulators of some regions let the offline operators transfer to the online sector.
However, the taxes rates may be surprising for some companies. All of the licensed operators have to pay a single fee of AR65 million. The GGR is also taxed with 25%. All the foreign operators have to be a part of a temporary union of companies (UTE).
It is obvious that Argentina is a promising market, which can lead to active paying gamblers and income growth for the operators. However, any company should discuss all the details of the gambling laws in Argentina with the regulator. Will your gambling business be successful in this country or not? It depends on the province, its legislation system, and its requirements.
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