‘As a drug trade’: Argentina discusses the restriction of gambling online for teenage | Business and economy news

Buenos Aires, Argentina – December is in Buenos Aires capital, and summer temperatures rose to 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit).

The sun ruthlessly beats on the wavy metal roofs of the Fiorito villa, the neighborhood of the working class south of the capital of Argentina.

Teens in Flip-Flops drive motorcycles through dirt. Other children are looking for shady stains to rest and rinse the legs with a garden gut.

Carla G, who requested anonymity, is one of the teens from the neighborhood. At the age of 18, the end of high school is approaching. One of her favorite parties was to play football with her friends at the neighborhood sports club, not far from where Diego Maradona, a legendary player, grew up.

But her hobbies took the back seat last June when she took a gambling on the net.

“Almost all my school friends are involved in gambling online or another,” Carla said. “They admit that is a problem.”

Carla is part of a growing trend in Argentine society: teenagers and young men gamble their money online.

Last October, the Ombudsman of the City of Buenos Aires posted report This revealed that nearly a quarter of local students at the age of 12 to 19, she gambled online.

The vast majority, 67 percent, cited the need for quick money as their motivation. As Poverty is raised In Argentina, experts are afraid that internet betting will become increasingly increasing – and illegal platforms, as well as legitimate, will spread.

But the issue of gambling on the network has proven to be disputed, especially in the Presidency of the Permanent Free Market of the Libertarians Javier Milei.

Carla’s story

For Carl, this was a rush of adrenaline she felt – and the need to help her family escape poverty – That pushed her toward the internet gambling.

The 18-year-old lives with older sister Mayra, 26, and a six-year-old nephew. The family relies on Mayra’s income.

But in April, Mayra lost her gig in a used furniture store. To make the income, Mayra has switched to washing her neighbors for cash.

The family, however, struggled to cover their accounts. Mayra said that sometimes he went to bed without dinner, for the desire for money.

So Carla decided to take things into her own hands. She said that she replaced her regular football practices for hours spent locked in her room, working as a cashier at a virtual casino.

A close friend suggested her a job. “Virtual Bingo is so widespread in the neighborhood that most families participate, which makes it feel normal,” Carla said.

But she claims that the job suffered her into the Internet Ponzija scheme, the one that relied on all the growing body of recruits to pay into the system.

“The cashiers raise money from the bookmaker and make a commission for every new player they employ,” Carla explained.

“But there is a catch: say the cashier collects $ 100 in bets, and bookmakers win $ 150. Bingoa administrators give a box office $ 50 to distribute as a gain, but she still owes those $ 50 to administrators. To avoid paying out of her own pocket has to hire new bookmakers to cover your debt. “

Carla remembers that she felt the pressure of attracting new gamblers on social networks, sharing links and promotional posts to advertise her bingo ring.

“It’s getting harder to find participants,” she said. In the end, she left the job in November, after coming to a point where she was no longer able to attract new gamblers and earn commissions.

But her older sister Mayra also became a cashier, and she continues to work on a illegal gambling platform.

She explained that she spent up to five hours a day on gambling apps, losing money that would otherwise spend on food.

As she spoke, her phone was constantly sang by the messages of a casino operator, buzzing like a persistent mosquito. She owed them $ 18.

“To be able to bring back the time, I would never get involved in that. It’s like drug trade. It forces you to bring friends and family to this system, even though you know it’s dangerous,” Mayra said.

Alternative to poverty

In Tandil, a small, agricultural city in the Province of Buenos Aires, a history teacher Eugenia Eugenia Erregueren saw that the start of gambling began during the patient of the covid-11.

Forced to areolate themselves to stop the spread of the virus, her students have increasingly turned to digital spaces to socialize.

“For children, there are not many differences between playing video games and the intake of betting platform,” Erregueren said. “Both activities are part of the same endless movement experience.”

She noticed that the boys were more likely to gamble in their classroom. Ombudsman’s survey found that 34 percent of teenage boys set up bets on the network, compared to 13 percent of girls.

“Internet casinos serve as not a place where boys, especially, can embody the aspirative alter ego,” Erregueren said. Some of her students told her they lost more than $ 500 to one bet, and sometimes they came to her, looking for money.

Experts and critics deserve part of growth in internet betting on economic instability in Argentina, which has long suffered from spiral inflation and foreign debt load.

In December 2023, President Milei assumed his duty, promising dramatic savings measures to restrain himself in inflation and pull the country out of the recession.

Self-written “Anarho-Capitalist” has brought his approach to “motor drink” bureaucracy, regulations and public consumptionReducing or freezing all three.

AND results are mixed. The monthly inflation fell and the Argentine peso became stronger. Even the gross domestic product (GDP) showed promising signs.

But poverty under Milei’s administration also increased. The number of Argentines under the poverty line reached more than 50 percent last year, and unemployment continues to grow.

Erregueren explained that her students see online as an alternative, a way to release the poverty cycle. After all, they face limited occasions in rural areas like Tandil.

“The jobs I can strive for, such as working as rural workers or in the village, are felt as forced work because of extreme low wages,” Erreguerena said.

“And the children need money, like everyone else. The night out can cost $ 40, and the gathering of vegetable crates will not get them there.”

Increased visibility

But the burden of debt caused by gambling can follow teens in adulthood.

In 2024 study Of the 9,000 young Argentines aged 15 to 29, about 40 percent have recently admitted gambling.

Of those who said they were gambling at a time of survey, the most active age circuit was between 25 and 29 years: more than 26 percent said they were currently gambling.

Martín Romero, a professor at the University of Buenos Aires, conducted a studio. It is partly attributed to growth in network betting for the increasing visibility of platforms.

Only this month, Sportsbet website has become the main sponsor of the popular Argentine football team atlétic Indendendiente, its brand decorated on the front of the jerseys.

And the two largest football clubs in the country are already including gambling platforms among their sponsors: Team River Pay is associated with a place for the Codere betting, while Boca Juniors receives sponsorship from Betson.

“In recent years, we have seen a dramatic increase in aggressive advertising platforms for betting platforms,” ​​Romero said.

“This rush supports the main Argentine football teams, tournaments, players, influencers and currents who serve as a role model to many children, adolescents and young people.”

He also pointed out that Argentina has no age limit for gambling, making the country an attractive destination for companies that want to expand their market.

“Gamblers who move from Europe because of stricter regulations can be easily established here,” he said.

Legislative change

Romero hopes to change that. He was among the experts who helped to create an account that would require gambling platforms to adopt biometric screening tools to prevent their children and adolescents.

The account also called for restrictions on the fact that gambling websites can be advertised, greater transparency regarding platform operations and penalties for unauthorized websites aiming for minors.

However, while the version of the law of the Law in November adopted the Argentine Chamber of MPs, with 54 percent of the vote, legislation faces a major battle in Senate.

The Lutrija, Gambler and Quinielas Association of Argentina (Alea) lobbied against the law, and Milei pledged to veto if he passed him as part of his pressure on deregulation.

Under his administration, Argentina did so legal for teenagers as Young 13 Invest in the stock market.

Members of his party also claimed that regulating the network on the network would set unnecessary limitations to individual freedoms.

“This is a responsibility for families, not the state,” said Lilia Lemoine, former stylist of Milei and a member of the Chamber of Representatives during the November discussion.

“Once again, the state exceeds its borders when it comes to individual decisions, and our government is against it.”

But Romero said that this policy helps parents the impression “that when teenagers set up bets, they take their first steps as investors in finances.”

He also pointed out that in November, Milei appointed Juan Bautista Ordonesia for Government Secretary for Children, Adolescents and Family. Ordonez boasts a gambling background: he has previously served as the Codere CEO, an online betting site.

“I’m not surprised that Milei wants veto on this law,” Romero said.

But he added that the need for regulations pressed. Based on his statistics, two of the three Argentine pesos of teenagers receive from their parents for daily costs, they simply gamble.