Argentina’s ruling-party Senate leader says online gambling bill will advance
Patricia Bullrich, who leads President Javier Milei’s La Libertad Avanza bloc in Argentina’s Senate, has said senators will consider legislation to prevent gambling harm among children and restrict online betting advertising “in the coming weeks”.
Bullrich served as Milei’s security minister before taking her Senate seat last December. She made the announcement on 6 November. The bill has been waiting for Senate approval since the Chamber of Deputies passed it in November 2024.
“Child gambling addiction is not a game,” she wrote on X. “It destroys children’s lives and hits families who often don’t know how to help them. We are going to deal with this law in the Senate in the coming weeks. Limits need to be set.”
Bullrich’s announcement signals movement on a bill that has been awaiting Senate approval for two years.
Her intervention came days before Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Argentina. It also followed renewed pressure from the Catholic Church, whose Episcopal Commission for Social Ministry (CEPAS) has launched a petition urging senators to approve the bill. In a letter to senators, CEPAS warned that “doing nothing is also a decision”.
People close to Bullrich said the text would be dealt with in committee before 20 November, Ámbito reported. She did not give a date for a debate or a floor vote.
The Senate’s Health, General Legislation and Justice and Criminal Affairs committees began examining a series of gambling-harm and online betting bills at a joint session in October, where they heard from invited speakers. Opposition deputies led by Victoria Tolosa Paz have also asked to meet the committee chairs.
Senators later unanimously backed a motion from Lucía Corpacci to prioritise the legislation, although that procedural step did not guarantee a vote.
Tight timetable
Time is short. Congress is expected to be largely inactive this week because of the papal visit and a legislative staff holiday. That leaves the last two weeks of November before ordinary sessions end on 30 November.
According to La Nación, the bill keeps its parliamentary status until 1 March 2027. After November, it could only be considered if the executive included it in extraordinary sessions. Any amendments approved by senators would send the text back to the Chamber of Deputies.
Deputies approved the proposal on 27 November 2024 by 139 votes to 36, with 59 abstentions. It would ban online gambling advertising on television, radio, social media and other channels, including promotion by influencers and public figures.
The ban would also cover sports sponsorship, stadium naming rights and betting advertising on team shirts and inside grounds. Advertising inside authorised gambling venues, betting agencies and lottery outlets would still be allowed, as long as it carried mandatory warnings.
Under the text, operators would have to verify players’ identity and age through biometric checks linked to the national population register, RENAPER. Welcome bonuses and credit-card gambling payments would be banned, and a national self-exclusion register would be created.
Electronic wallets used for gambling would be limited to funds already held in the account, with no access to credit.