Argentina’s Senate may revive online betting bill as Patricia Bullrich pushes it back onto the agenda

Argentina’s upper house could soon revisit a bill to regulate online betting and limit minors’ access to gambling platforms. For PSPs, the details matter: the draft includes ad restrictions, identity and age checks, limits on payment methods, and sanctions for operators without authorization.

1. Patricia Bullrich, president of the La Libertad Avanza bloc in the Senate, said on X that the chamber will address the bill in the coming weeks. Her public push puts the issue back on the political agenda, and she has started seeking support inside her bloc to move it forward.
2. The bill on problem gambling prevention and online betting regulation passed Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies on 27 November 2024, with 139 votes in favor, 36 against, and 59 abstentions. It combines proposals from different political blocs and aims to tighten oversight of online gambling platforms while increasing protections for children and adolescents.
3. Its main measures include a ban on advertising and sponsorship by online gambling companies across media, social networks, sports events, and club shirts; identity and age verification to block minors; limits on certain deposit and betting payment methods; sanctions for unlicensed operators; and tools for prevention and self-exclusion.
4. Even after clearing Deputies, the bill still needs Senate treatment, where it falls under the Health, General Legislation, and Justice and Criminal Affairs committees. In other words, the political part is done; the legislative bottleneck is now in the upper house.
5. The bill returned to the center of debate after renewed pressure from the Argentine Church, which asked Congress to move ahead with specific rules to limit minors’ exposure to betting platforms. Marcelo Colombo, president of the Argentine Episcopal Conference and archbishop of Mendoza, publicly urged lawmakers not to let the bill stall. The Episcopal Commission for Social Pastoral also launched a signature campaign in support of the same goal.

The legislative file now also includes a separate proposal promoted by the Executive Branch in May 2026, centered on the same online betting framework. For operators and payment providers, the direction is clear enough: advertising, onboarding, payment rails, and merchant authorization are all on the table.