Buenos Aires blocks 537 illegal gambling and online betting sites

Buenos Aires has moved to shut down 537 domains tied to clandestine gambling and illegal online betting. For licensed operators and PSPs, the interesting part is not the headline number; it is the same old set of failure points that regulators keep circling: weak identity checks, underage access, and payout restrictions.

1. The action comes out of an investigation led by the Specialized Cybercrime Prosecutor’s Office in San Isidro, headed by prosecutor Patricio Ferrari, into a suspected violation of article 301 bis of the Penal Code linked to illegal gambling operations.
2. The court decision followed evidence submitted by the Cámara Argentina de Salas de Casinos, Bingos y Anexos (CASCBA), which asked for platforms operating outside the current regulatory framework to be blocked.
3. According to the investigation, the illegal operators showed major gaps in controls: insufficient identity verification, access for minors, and restrictions on players’ ability to collect winnings. In practice, that means the usual trifecta of risk for any payments stack touching this kind of traffic: KYC weakness, AML exposure, and consumer complaints when withdrawals get messy.
4. Authorities also said some of the platforms failed to meet the security standards required of authorized operators and lacked supervision mechanisms, responsible gaming policies, and user protections.
5. The prosecutor’s office is also looking into groups that allegedly recruit teenagers and young adults to act as “cashiers” or intermediaries for the illegal platforms, receiving small commissions for handling payments and collections. Gonzalo Atanasof, president of Lotería y Casinos de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, said: “Each block represents one less door of access to a clandestine circuit” that lacks controls and exposes children and adolescents.

The blocking of the 537 domains was coordinated by the Ente Nacional de Comunicaciones (ENAC). For PSPs and acquirers, the practical signal is simple: Buenos Aires is treating illegal online gambling as both a market-integrity issue and a payments problem.