Buenos Aires Senator Federico Fagioli drafts “Lula Law” to ban online gambling in the Province of Buenos Aires

A draft bill in Argentina would prohibit online gambling in the Province of Buenos Aires and force licensed operators to stop taking new deposits, refund player balances, and shut down advertising, bonuses, and sponsorships. For PSPs and acquirers serving regulated gambling, the practical issue is simple: if this moves, the compliance perimeter gets a lot tighter.

1. Senator Federico Fagioli, a member of the Peronist Patria Grande political party, introduced the bill to repeal Law No. 15,079/2018, which legalised online gambling in the province. The draft has been nicknamed the “Lula Law,” after Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
2. The proposal would ban online sports betting, virtual slot machines, roulette, blackjack, poker, and other games that offer cash prizes. The text does carve out exceptions for lotteries, prize draws, and quinielas, the traditional Argentine lottery game.
3. If adopted, the law would stop licensed gambling operators from accepting new player deposits and require them to facilitate refunds of all balances currently held in player accounts. That is the kind of instruction that turns payment operations from normal settlement flow into a controlled unwind.
4. The bill would also ban all relevant advertising, promotions, bonuses, and sponsorships within the Province of Buenos Aires. In parallel, the Provincial Institute of Lotteries and Casinos would be required to issue banning orders for all websites and applications offering gambling.
5. Fagioli said access to gambling has been disproportionately exacerbated by digital platforms. He argued that the ability to bet from any internet-connected device has removed the physical, geographical, and time-related barriers that used to separate people from land-based gambling establishments.

The proposal follows a similar 2024 push in the autonomous City of Buenos Aires, where Legislator Gabriel Solano proposed a ban over concerns about rising gambling among minors. That earlier effort did not become law, but the new draft keeps the issue live for local operators and their payment partners.