Buenos Aires: Bill to Ban Credit Cards in Online Gambling

Argentina – June 10, 2025 – www.zonadeazar.com A new bill was introduced in the Buenos Aires Province Legislature to regulate online gambling platforms and prevent addictive behaviors. Provincial Deputy Nazarena Mesías, from the Civic Agreement bloc, proposed banning the use of credit cards and cryptocurrencies as payment methods on online gambling sites.

The bill aims to amend Article 163 of Law 15.079, which regulates digital betting in the province, with the goal of “ensuring transparency and avoiding confusion” in player transactions. Additionally, it proposes that all deposit, betting, and balance inquiry operations be conducted exclusively in Argentine pesos.

“Currently, the regulation does not clearly specify the currency in which online gambling transactions must be recorded. This allows operators to use credit systems or virtual units that make it difficult to understand the real value of bets,” explained Mesías.

With this measure, the legislator seeks to ensure that all operations are recorded in pesos so that users have a “clear and direct view of the real money they are betting” and to eliminate conversions that could cause confusion.

She also emphasized that this initiative would help prevent deceptive practices by operators, thus reducing the risk of addiction.

It is worth noting that earlier this year, Mesías presented another bill to promote responsible gambling, regulate industry advertising, and raise awareness of the risks of gambling addiction.

Recent Legislative Developments

Buenos Aires Deputy Julio Pasqualin (Civic Agreement – UCR + GEN) highlighted that his bill to regulate online gambling received a favorable opinion from the Committee on Addiction Prevention of the Chamber of Deputies last May. “It’s a consensus-based project that turned out very well,” said Pasqualin.

Meanwhile, the Argentine Senate has begun discussing regulations on child gambling addiction and online gambling. On Thursday, June 5, the Senate’s Health Committee discussed the progress of 22 related legislative initiatives, with the participation of experts such as Miguel Tollo (Foro de Infancias) and Verónica Laplace (Mental Health and Addictions Advisory Council).

Edited by: @_fonta www.zonadeazar.com