Buenos Aires Province Considers Online Gambling Ban Inspired by Brazil’s Provisional Measure 1,394

Buenos Aires Province in Argentina is reportedly weighing a ban on online casino gaming and sports betting that would mirror Brazil’s Provisional Measure 1,394. For PSPs and operators, the point is straightforward: if the proposal advances, a provincial market that currently allows online betting could move toward a hard stop, while lotteries and prize draws would remain outside the draft.

1. The proposal is the so-called “Lula Law,” backed by Senator Federico Fagioli and named after Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s online gaming and betting ban in Brazil. According to the source, Brazil’s measure abruptly reversed course on online gambling and shut down the country’s online gaming sector less than two years after launch.
2. If the Lula Law passes, operators in Buenos Aires would no longer be able to offer online casino gaming and sports betting in the province. The draft does not affect online lotteries and prize draws, so the scope is narrower than a blanket gambling prohibition, but still directly targets the products that matter most to high-risk payment flows.
3. Legal expert Tomás García Botta, partner at MF Estudio Abogados, told NEXT.io that the law “could indeed be introduced.” He also said he does not fully understand what the law is meant to achieve, and warned that banning legal online gaming could push activity into illegal online gambling instead.
4. García Botta added that the measure might face constitutional challenges. That matters because, in practice, a contested ban can create a messy interim period for payment routing, merchant underwriting, and local acquirer risk decisions long before the final legal outcome is settled.
5. Buenos Aires lawmakers are also working on a separate safer gaming proposal built from 27 bills. It would introduce strict biometric checks, new ID checks, advertising restrictions, mandatory safer gambling and self-exclusion tools, and a new office focused on illegal gambling.