Zona de Azar Argentina – Argentina: Chamber of Deputies Moves Forward with Project to Combat Gambling Addiction

Argentina.-  November 13, 2024 www.zonadeazar.com  The Chamber of Deputies will resume its committee debate on Wednesday regarding the project to combat gambling addiction, a scourge that has been growing exponentially among teenagers and young people since the pandemic, with alarming numbers.

The initiative will be discussed on Wednesday at 9:30 am in a plenary session of the committees on Addiction Prevention and Drug Trafficking Control, Social Action and Public Health, Communications and Information Technology, Criminal Legislation, and Families, Children, and Youth.

The president of the Addiction Committee, Mónica Frade (Civic Coalition), aims to issue a ruling that would allow the project to be brought to the plenary session, although this will require signatures from more than half of the members of each of the five committees.

Projects to combat gambling addiction began to be discussed on May 14 in various informational meetings that concluded on August 13.

Throughout the legislative meetings, experts called for a law to address this issue, highlighting the consequences of this addiction, including social isolation, apathy, disconnection from reality, and economic hardship for families.

Although legislation prohibits minors under 18 from gambling, the proliferation of platforms has opened the door for teenagers to gamble by creating accounts linked to family members’ credit cards via electronic wallets.

With technological advancements, the profile of the gambler has changed over the past decade, especially during the pandemic and with the influence of advertising campaigns led by media personalities that promote this consumption.

For this reason, and based on the projects under review, the committee aims to advance a ruling to restrict advertising, aiming to regulate the involvement of cultural and sports figures in promoting these platforms.

Another key issue being analyzed by the deputies is to restrict payment methods used by teenagers when associating family credit cards with virtual wallets.

One of the projects to be used as a basis is the initiative designed by Civic Coalition legislator Maximiliano Ferraro, to which additional inputs from various initiatives related to the IT field will be added.

Edited by: @_fonta www.zonadeazar.com